Finite sets

In mathematics, a finite set is a set that has a number of elements. Informally, a finite set is a set which one could in principle count and finish counting. For example,

is a finite set with five elements. The number of elements of a finite set is a natural number (a non-negative integer) and is called the cardinality of the set. A set that is not finite is called infinite. For example, the set of all positive integers is infinite:

Finite sets are particularly important in combinatorics, the mathematical study of counting. Many arguments involving finite sets rely on the pigeonhole principle, which states that there cannot exist an injective function from a larger finite set to a smaller finite set.

Formally, a set S is called finite if there exists a bijection

for some natural number n. The number n is the set's cardinality, denoted as |S|. The empty set {} or Ø is considered finite, with cardinality zero.

If a set is finite, its elements may be written — in many ways — in a sequence:

In combinatorics, a finite set with n elements is sometimes called an n-set and a subset with k elements is called a k-subset. For example, the set {5,6,7} is a 3-set – a finite set with three elements – and {6,7} is a 2-subset of it.

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