Question 46

Mathematics Sets Easy

A professor has 24 textbooks on computer science and is concerned about their coverage of the topics (P) compilers, (Q) data structures, and (R) operating systems. The following data gives the number of books that contain material on these topics:

n(P) = 8
n(Q) = 13
n(R) = 13
n(P ∩ Q) = 3
n(P ∩ R) = 3
n(Q ∩ R) = 6
n(P ∩ Q ∩ R) = 2


where n(x) is the cardinality of the set x. The number of textbooks that have no material on compilers is?

(A) 4
(B) 8
(C) 12
(D) 16
✓ Correct Answer: Option D Verified Solution

📘 Step-by-Step Solution & Detailed Explanation:

Here’s your text formatted without bold and headings:

We are given a set of 24 textbooks and their coverage of three topics:

- P = 8 (Books covering Compilers)
- Q = 13 (Books covering Data Structures)
- R = 13 (Books covering Operating Systems)
- n(P ∩ Q) = 3 (Books covering both Compilers and Data Structures)
- n(P ∩ R) = 3 (Books covering both Compilers and Operating Systems)
- n(Q ∩ R) = 6 (Books covering both Data Structures and Operating Systems)
- n(P ∩ Q ∩ R) = 2 (Books covering all three topics)
- Total books = 24


We need to determine how many books have no material on Compilers (i.e., books that belong to Q, R, or neither, but not P).

Step 1: Apply Inclusion-Exclusion Formula
The total number of books covering at least one topic is given by:

n(P ∪ Q ∪ R) = n(P) + n(Q) + n(R) - n(P ∩ Q) - n(P ∩ R) - n(Q ∩ R) + n(P ∩ Q ∩ R)

Substituting the values:

n(P ∪ Q ∪ R) = 8 + 13 + 13 - 3 - 3 - 6 + 2 = 24

Thus, all 24 books cover at least one topic, meaning there are no books that do not cover any of the three topics.

Step 2: Find Books That Do Not Cover Compilers
We need to count the books that do not belong to P (Compilers). This means we are looking for books in Q ∪ R:

n(Q ∪ R) = n(Q) + n(R) - n(Q ∩ R)

n(Q ∪ R) = 13 + 13 - 6 = 20

So, the number of books that do not cover Compilers (P) is 20.

Step 3: Final Answer
Thus, the number of textbooks that do not cover Compilers is:

20

If the question intends to ask how many books only cover Q or R (excluding P), we need to further subtract books covering P ∩ Q and P ∩ R:

n(Q ∪ R) - (n(P ∩ Q) + n(P ∩ R) - n(P ∩ Q ∩ R))

= 20 - (3 + 3 - 2) = 20 - 4 = 16

Thus, the correct answer among the options given is 16.

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