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This is a unit covering background material required for our course in Comptuer Assisted
Regional Analysis. The material relates to (1) mathematics; (2) descriptive statistics and use of
SAS; (3) database management and an introduction to dBASE; (4) basic concepts in mapping such
as scale; (5) elements of GIS. If you have an understanding in these materials you can count your-
self as well prepared for what we wish do in the middle and last third of the course.
1. MATHEMATICS
Topics to be covered: theory of sets; the Cartesian product; Cartesian coordinates in the XY
plane; variables and functions.
Definition of a set: A set is a well defined collection of objects such as people, places, numbers,
polygons, and points. The individual objects are called the elements of the set. For example,
Sets may be of any size. Set A shown above is a small finite set of three people. The particles of
sand on a beach is also a set--a very large and finite set. The set of all letters in the English alpha-
bet is a finite set of 26 elements. The set of all numbers in the
number line is an infinite set.
A set with no elements is called an empty set or a null set; it is
denoted by the symbol Ø. The set containing all elements rele- 2 B
vant to a particular discourse is called the universal set; it is de- ~B
1 3 5
noted by the symbol U. 4
Intersection: The intersection of two sets A and B is a new set consisting of elements common to
both sets (Fig. 3) ; it is denoted (A ∩ B).
Union: The union of two sets A and B, denoted (A ∪ B), Figure 3: intersection
is a new set containing all the elements in either A or B or both (Fig. 5).
C G S
1 1 - -
2 - - 1
3 1 1 -
4 1 1 1
5 - 1 -
6 - 1 1 C G
7 - 1 -
8 - - -
9 1 1 -
10 1 1 1
S
A Venn diagram representing the same data is
shown in Fig. 6. If we denote the number of peo-
ple in set A by n(A), then the following expres-
sions describe the intersecting sets and the num-
ber of elements in each. Let C = Computers; G =
Geography; S = Statistics.
The Cartesian cross product is obtained by crossing each element of a set with all elements of another set.
The possible outcomes on a rolled die can be represented as a set A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6} where each element
is the value on a single face of the die. If a coin is tossed
H (1, H)
the outcomes can be represented as a set B = {H, T} ; 1
the outcome is a head or a tail. If we roll the die first and T (1, T)
toss the coin second, the outcomes can be represented H (2, H)
2
in a compound set denoted by A X B, where
T (2, T)
H (3, H)
A X B = {(1, H), (2, H), (3, H), (4, H), (5, H), (6, H), (1, T), 3
T (3, T)
(2, T), (3, T), (4, T), (5, T), (6, T)}
H (4, H)
4
Each element of the compound set is an ordered pair (or T (4, T)
a 2-tuple) where the value on the face of the die is writ- H (5, H)
5
ten first, and the outcome of the coin toss is written sec-
T (5, T)
ond. In set theory the set A X B is called Cartesian prod-
uct of A and B (Fig. 7). H (6, H)
6
T (6, T)
When two polygon maps are overlaid the maximum pos-
sible number of new polygon types is the number of elements Figure 7: Cartesian Product
a b
Bb
A Aa Ab Cb
B Ba Bb
C Ca Cb Figure 8: map overlay
Note that the particular map in (Fig. 8) contains only five of the classes from the Cartesian prod-
uct. In general when two polygon maps A and B are overlaid the total number of new intersecting
polygons is given by the product of the number of polygon types in each:
n(A) * n (B)
where n(A) and n(B) are the distinct types of polygon in each map. The total number of polygons
(not distinct types) in the map overlay is not an a priori determinate number; it may be less or
more than the number of elements in the Cartesian product The total number of resultant poly-
gons in the new map is a function of the specific spatial
Y
distributions in maps A and B.
Figure 10
It was Descartes' discovery that any point on the XY-plane can
be uniquely represented by a single ordered pair of numbers.
This relationship between points on the plane and ordered
pairs of numbers is of fundamental importance. By means of
this device it became possible to solve problems in geometry
by using algebraic expressions--the logic of analytical geome-
try; this also forms an important basis of both cartography
and GIS. Maps show where places are located in absolute
terms, such as longitude and latitude; values of X in a rectan-
gular coordinate system correspond to longitude and values
of Y correspond to latitude. Analytical geometry also forms
the basis of GIS; points, lines and areas (an area is a closed
polygon) are represented as sequences of ordered pairs of
numbers (Fig. 11 from Dangermond). Map topology, drawing
of boundaries, and polygon intersections are done algebrai-
cally using the basic premise of analytical geometry that there
Figure 11
is a one-to-one correspondence between points on the plane and ordered pairs of
numbers.
A variable is a symbol, such as X or Y, that can assume a prescribed set of values. If it attains
only one value then it is a constant. A variable can be continuous where it can take any value be-
tween two given values or the variable may be discrete. The number of individuals in a room is an
example of a discrete variable, whereas the height and weight of these individuals are continuous
variables.
A function is a relation we define from one variable to another where to each value of variable X
we associate another value in variable Y. We say that Y is a function of X which is denoted by the
expression Y = f(X). X is called the independent vari-
Y
able and Y is called the dependent variable. A linear
function L is the graph of the equation given by:
y = ax + b
Figure 13
The graph of the function y = 3X + 2
x -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3
y -7 -4 -1 2 5 8 11