Prove that $(A-B)\cup (B-A)=(A\cup B)-(A\cap B)$

3.6k Views Asked by At

Prove that:

$(A-B)\cup (B-A)=(A\cup B)-(A\cap B)$

My Attempt:

$x\in (A-B)\cup (B-A)$

so $x\in (A-B)\vee x\in (B-A)$

$(x\in A \wedge x\notin B)\vee (x\in B\wedge x\notin A)$

I suppose I should try different cases from here? I haven't been able to make progress after this step. Thanks for your help!

1

There are 1 best solutions below

3
On BEST ANSWER

Looks like you're on the right track. You could make two cases now based on your "or" statement.

Case $1$: $x \in A$ and $x\notin B$. Then obviously $x\notin A\cap B$.

Case $2$: $x \in B$ and $x\notin A$. Then again $x \notin A\cap B$.

In either case (that is, whether we start with $x\in A$ or $x\in B \equiv x \in A\cup B$) we know $x\notin A\cap B$ so $x\in (A \ \cup B)\setminus (A\cap B)$ and you can conclude that $$(A-B)\cup (B-A)\subseteq (A\cup B)-(A\cap B)$$ Can you complete the second half of the proof?