Exercise · ZW-INCLUSION-EXCLUSION-PRINCIPLE-007 · ★★☆ Intermediate

If \(|A\cup B|=|A|+|B|\), what follows?

Choose one option.

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  • B. \(A\cap B=\emptyset\)

Explanation

The formula says \(|A\cup B|=|A|+|B|-|A\cap B|\); for it to match, \(|A\cap B|=0\), i.e. the sets are disjoint.

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Review the concept: Inclusion-exclusion principle

It counts the elements of the union of finite sets \(A\), \(B\), \(C\), … by adding their sizes and correcting what was counted too often in the intersections.

\[\begin{aligned}|A\cup B|&=|A|+|B|-|A\cap B|\\|A\cup B\cup C|&=|A|+|B|+|C|\\&\quad-|A\cap B|-|A\cap C|-|B\cap C|\\&\quad+|A\cap B\cap C|\end{aligned}\]

More practice problems: inclusion-exclusion principle

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