Is the statement Ø ⊆ C true for set C = {7,8}

discrete mathematics

I'm unsure as to if the statement is true or not. I understand that Ø ⊂ C would be true, but I think the answer to this is false because of the distinction between subset and proper subset. If it is true, could someone provide some explanation as to why?

Best Answer

You are correct in saying that $$ \emptyset \subset \{7,8\}$$

because every element of $\emptyset $ is an element of $\{7,8\}$ but$\{7,8\}$ has two elements which are not element of $\emptyset $

On the other hand $$ \emptyset \subseteq \{7,8\}$$ because every element of $\emptyset $ is also an element of $\{7,8\}$

Of course we understand that $\emptyset $ does not have any element so it is a subset of every set.

Note that $\emptyset $ is not a proper subset of itself, but it is a subset of itself.

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