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| Probably on account of all those years I flippered away playing the oldtime pinball machines, I tend to imagine a product like this being displayed in a vertical array: | | Probably on account of all those years I flippered away playing the oldtime pinball machines, I tend to imagine a product like this being displayed in a vertical array: |
| | | |
− | : (1 + ''a'')
| + | {| align="center" cellspacing="6" width="90%" |
− | : (1 + ''b'')
| + | | |
− | : (1 + ''c'')
| + | <math>\begin{matrix} |
| + | (1 ~+~ a) |
| + | \\ |
| + | (1 ~+~ b) |
| + | \\ |
| + | (1 ~+~ c) |
| + | \end{matrix}</math> |
| + | |} |
| | | |
− | I picture this as a playboard with six "bumpers", the ball chuting down the board in such a career that it strikes exactly one of the two bumpers on each and every one of the three levels. | + | I picture this as a playboard with six bumpers, the ball chuting down the board in such a career that it strikes exactly one of the two bumpers on each and every one of the three levels. |
| | | |
− | <pre>
| + | So a trajectory of the ball where it hits the <math>a\!</math> bumper on the 1st level, hits the <math>1\!</math> bumper on the 2nd level, hits the <math>c\!</math> bumper on the 3rd level, and then exits the board, represents a single term in the desired product and corresponds to the subset <math>\{ a, c \}.\!</math> |
− | So a trajectory of the ball where it | |
− | hits the "a" bumper on the 1st level, | |
− | hits the "1" bumper on the 2nd level, | |
− | hits the "c" bumper on the 3rd level, | |
− | and then exits the board, represents | |
− | a single term in the desired product | |
− | and corresponds to the subset {a, c}. | |
− | </pre> | |
| | | |
− | Multiplying out (1 + ''a'')(1 + ''b'')(1 + ''c''), one obtains: | + | Multiplying out the product <math>(1 + a)(1 + b)(1 + c)\!</math>, one obtains: |
| | | |
− | : 1 + ''a'' + ''b'' + ''c'' + ''ab'' + ''ac'' + ''bc'' + ''abc''.
| + | {| align="center" cellspacing="6" width="90%" |
| + | | |
| + | <math>\begin{array}{*{15}{c}} |
| + | 1 & + & a & + & b & + & c & + & ab & + & ac & + & bc & + & abc |
| + | \end{array}</math> |
| + | |} |
| | | |
| And this informs us that the subsets of choice are: | | And this informs us that the subsets of choice are: |
| | | |
− | : {}, {''a''}, {''b''}, {''c''}, {''a'', ''b''}, {''a'', ''c''}, {''b'', ''c''}, {''a'', ''b'', ''c''}.
| + | {| align="center" cellspacing="6" width="90%" |
| + | | |
| + | <math>\begin{matrix} |
| + | \varnothing, & \{ a \}, & \{ b \}, & \{ c \}, & \{ a, b \}, & \{ a, c \}, & \{ b, c \}, & \{ a, b, c \} |
| + | \end{matrix}</math> |
| + | |} |
| | | |
| ==Selection 7== | | ==Selection 7== |