[Math] symmetric about set symmetric difference

elementary-set-theory

Using $\Delta$ for set symmetric difference,

$A \Delta B$ is all the elements in exactly one of the sets but not all of them.

$A \Delta B \Delta C $ is all the elements in exactly one of the sets or all of them.

I appreciate there is an even number of sets in the first example and an odd number in the second (and associativity implies no order ambiguity), but what is symmetric about set symmetric difference?

Best Answer

A function in two variables $f(x,y)$ is called symmetric if $f(x,y)=f(y,x)$.

It is easy to see that $A\mathbin{\triangle}B=B\mathbin{\triangle}A$, exactly because being in exactly in one of $A$ or $B$ is the same as being exactly in one of $B$ and $A$.

This is in contrast to set difference, where $A\setminus B$ is generally not the same as $B\setminus A$.