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this question was posted but I did not understand the solution. For each natural number n, let An = {5n, 5n+1, 5n+2,...,6n}. And let A = {An: n is an element of the natural numbers}.

Here is where I am:

An = {5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10,...}

So U An = {5, 6, 7, 8, 9, ....}

I saw the solution and it said that A1 = {5, 6} my question is if An = {5n, 5n+1, 5n+2, ..., 6n} then wouldn't A1 go on from 5 until infinity because

n = 1) 5(n)= 5, 5(n)+1 = 6, 5(n)+2 = 7,... Any explanation would be really helpful!

The solution is U An = {5, 6, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18} U { n is an element of the natural numbers: n >= 20}

1 Answers1

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The first problem is that you’ve not understood the definition of $A_n$. We’re told that $$A_n=\{5n,5n+1,5n+2,\ldots,6n\}\;;$$ this means that $A_n$ contains the integers $k$ that satisfy the inequality $5n\le k\le 6n$. In particular,

$$\begin{align*} A_1&=\{5,6\}\;,\\ A_2&=\{10,11,12\}\;,\\ A_3&=\{15,16,17,18\}\;,\\ A_4&=\{20,21,22,23,24\}\;,\text{ and}\\ A_5&=\{25,26,27,28,29,30\}\;. \end{align*}$$

Thus,

$$A_1\cup A_2\cup A_3\cup A_4=\{5,6,10,11,12,15,16,17,18,20,21,22,23,24\}\;.$$

Now notice that $A_5$ picks up where $A_4$ leaves off: $\max A_4=24$, and $\min A_5=25$. And you can easily check that $A_6$ actually overlaps $A_5$: $\max A_5=30=\min A_6$.

In general we know from the definition that $\min A_n=5n$ and $\max A_n=6n$. Suppose that $n\ge 5$. Then $n-5\ge 0$, so

$$\max A_n=6n=5(n+1)+(n-5)\ge 5(n+1)=\min A_{n+1}\;.$$

In other words, if $n\ge 5$, the largest member of $A_n$ is always at least as large as the smallest member of $A_{n+1}$, so there’s no gap between $A_n$ and $A_{n+1}$, as there is between $A_1$ and $A_2$, between $A_2$ and $A_3$, and between $A_3$ and $A_4$. It follows that

$$\bigcup_{n\ge 5}A_n=\{25,26,\ldots\}=\{n\in\Bbb Z^+:n\ge 25\}$$

and hence that

$$\begin{align*} \bigcup_{n\ge 1}A_n&=\{5,6,10,11,12,15,16,17,18,20,21,22,23,24\}\cup\{n\in\Bbb Z^+:n\ge 25\}\\ &=\{5,6,10,11,12,15,16,17,18\}\cup\{n\in\Bbb Z^+:n\ge 20\}\;. \end{align*}$$

Brian M. Scott
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