Ordered Pairs and Cross Product
Ordered Pairs and Cross Product
Ordered Pairs and Cross Product
a 1
b 2
c 3
Figure 1
Next, suppose that we pair the elements of set A with those of set B. One possible pairing is shown
below.
A B
a 1
b 2
c 3
Figure 2
The figure suggests that element a of set A is paired with element 1 of B. Similarly, b is paired with 2,
and c is paired with 3. These pairings can be conveniently recorded as
(a, 1)
(b, 2)
(c, 3)
These new objects are called ordered pairs. The word “ordered” means that in the pairing process, the
order of writing the elements is important. For example, the ordered pair (a, 1) will generally be different
from the ordered pair (1, a). The elements composing an ordered pair are called components. In the ordered
pair (a, 1), a is the first component, and 1 is the second component.
That is, two ordered pairs are equal if their corresponding components are equal.
In the discussion above, the pairing, namely, (a, 1), (b, 2), (c, 3) is just one possible pairing of elements
from set A to B. Others are:
(a, 2), (b, 3), (c, 2)
(a, 3), (b, 1), (c, 1)
If we collect all these ordered pairs, the resulting collection is called the Cross product of A and B.
Examples:
Question 1:
Suppose A: { a, b, c } and B: { 1, 2, 3 }. Find the Cross product of A and B and the Cross product of B
and A.
Answers:
A x B = {(a, 1), (a, 2), (a, 3), (b, 1), (b, 2), (b, 3), (c, 1), (c, 2), (c, 3)}
B x A = {(1, a), (1, b), (1, c), (2, a), (2, b), (2, c), (3, a), (3, b), (3, c)}
Question 2:
Suppose C: {2, 4, 6, 8} and D: {1, 3, 5}.
Find:
a) C x D
b) D x C
Answers:
a) C x D = {(2, 1), (2, 3), (2, 5), (4, 1), (4, 3), (4, 5), (6, 1), (6, 3), (6, 5), (8, 1), (8, 3), (8, 5)}
b) D x C = {(1, 2), (1, 4), (1, 6), (1, 8), (3, 2), (3, 4), (3, 6), (3, 8), (5, 2), (5, 4), (5, 6), (5, 8)}