Cartesian Product
October 2025
Formal Definition
\[
A_1 \times A_2 \times ... \times A_n = \{(a_1, a_2, ..., a_n) | a_i \in A_i \textrm{ for all } i \in \{1, 2, ..., n\}\}
\]
Examples
Let $A$ and $B$ be sets as such:
\[
A = \{ 1, 2, 3 \}\\
B = \{ 4, 5, 6\}
\]
We can define
\[
A \times B = \{(a, b) | a \in A \textrm{ and } b \in B\}
\]
| (1, 4) | (2, 4) | (3, 4) |
| (1, 5) | (2, 5) | (3, 5) |
| (1, 6) | (2, 6) | (3, 6) |
Another Example
\[
A = \{a, b\}\\
B = \{1, 2, 3\}\\
\\
\begin{aligned}
A \times B = \{&\\
&(a, 1),\\
&(a, 2),\\
&(a, 3),\\
&(b, 1),\\
&(b, 2),\\
&(b, 3)\\
\}
\end{aligned}
\]
Final Example!
\[
\begin{aligned}
\mathbb{N} \times \{1, 2, 3\} = \{&\\
&(0, 1),\\
&(0, 2),\\
&(0, 3),\\
&(1, 1),\\
&(2, 2),\\
&...\\
\}
\end{aligned}
\]