Lec 3: Arithmetic and ordering of real numbers
MATH 147 Section 2, Fall Term 2022
I (We will first finish the material from Lecture 2)
I Binary operations
I Fields
I Order
Key references: Text book sec 1.2.1–1.2.2
Binary operations
A binary operation on the set X is a function f : X × X → X . That is, it takes two elements of X as inputs
and returns an element of X as its output.
We often use a more readable notation, choosing a symbol such as ? to represent a specific binary operation
and placing it between the two arguments, e.g.
?(x, y ) = x ? y .
Let ? be a binary operation on X . We say that:
1. ? is associative if x ? (y ? z) = (x ? y ) ? z for all x, y , z ∈ X .
2. ? is commutative if x ? y = y ? x for all x, y ∈ X .
3. e ∈ X is an identity element of ? if x ? e = e ? x = x for all x ∈ X .
4. If e is an identity element of ?, then x −1 ∈ X is an inverse element of x ∈ X if x −1 ? x = x ? x −1 = e.
Question
Can you think of any binary operations?
Fields
A field is a set F together with a binary operation + called addition and a binary operation · called
multiplication that satisfy the following properties.
1. Addition is commutative.
2. Addition is associative.
3. There exists an identity element, called 0, for addition.
4. Every element x ∈ F has an additive inverse element (−x).
5. Multiplication is commutative.
6. Multiplication is associative.
7. There exists an identity element, called 1, for multiplication.
8. Every x ∈ F \ {0} has a multiplicative inverse element 1/x.
9. Multiplication is distributive over addition. x · (y + z) = x · y + x · z for all x, y , z ∈ F .
10. The additive identity and multiplicative identity are distinct.
Remarks
I Inverse and identity elements are unique. (Prove this!)
I Given x, y ∈ F we usually write x − y for x + (−y ), where −y is the additive inverse of y . We also write
x/y for x · (1/y ).
I We often omit the symbol · for multiplication (unless it improves readability). E.g., x · y = xy .
I The set of real numbers is a field! We have the familiar arithmetic operations +, −, ×, /. Subtraction of y
is simply addition of the additive inverse −y . Division by a nonzero number y is simply multiplication by
the multiplicative inverse 1/y .
I The set of rational numbers is also a field!
I The sets of natural numbers and integers are not fields.
Ordered fields
R is an ordered field, by which we mean that it is a field with relations < (less than) and > (greater than)
satisfying the following properties for all x, y , z ∈ R.
1. Exactly one of the following is true: x < y , x = y, x > y.
2. If x < y , then x + z < y + z.
3. If x > 0 and y > 0, then xy > 0.
4. If x > y and y > z, then x > z.
Exercise 1
Using the properties for ordered fields (including those for general fields), show that:
1. If x > y and z > 0, then xz > yz.
2. If x > y and z < 0, then xz < yz.
Other familiar rules for addition and multiplication can also be derived from the defining properties. For the
remaining parts of the course, we will take for granted all of these usual properties without formally listing or
proving them.
