NIST

set

(data structure)

Definition: An unordered collection of values where each value occurs at most once. A group of elements with three properties: (1) all elements belong to a universe, (2) either each element is a member of the set or it is not, and (3) the elements are unordered.

Formal Definition: As an abstract data type, a set has a single query function, isIn(v, S), which tells whether an element is a member of the set or not, and two modifier functions, add(v, S) and remove(v, S). These may be defined with axiomatic semantics as follows.

  1. new() returns a set
  2. isIn(v, new()) = false
  3. isIn(v, add(v, S)) = true
  4. isIn(v, add(u, S)) = isIn(v , S) if v ≠ u
  5. remove(v, new()) = new()
  6. remove(v, add(v, S)) = remove(v, S)
  7. remove(v, add(u, S)) = add(u, remove(v, S)) if v ≠ u
where S is a set and u and v are elements.

The predicate isEmpty(S) may be defined with the following additional axioms.

  1. isEmpty(new()) = true
  2. isEmpty(add(v, S)) = false

Generalization (I am a kind of ...)
bag, abstract data type.

See also intersection, union, complement, difference, list, set cover.

Authors: PR,PEB

Implementation

(C++ and Pascal).
Go to the Dictionary of Algorithms and Data Structures home page.

If you have suggestions, corrections, or comments, please get in touch with Paul Black.

Entry modified 2 September 2014.
HTML page formatted Mon Feb 2 13:10:40 2015.

Cite this as:
Patrick Rodgers and Paul E. Black, "set", in Dictionary of Algorithms and Data Structures [online], Vreda Pieterse and Paul E. Black, eds. 2 September 2014. (accessed TODAY) Available from: http://www.nist.gov/dads/HTML/set.html