diff --git a/library/data/finset/default.lean b/library/data/finset/default.lean
index d3a4ecc9c..fbda90159 100644
--- a/library/data/finset/default.lean
+++ b/library/data/finset/default.lean
@@ -5,4 +5,4 @@ Author: Leonardo de Moura
 
 Finite sets.
 -/
-import .basic .comb .to_set .card .bigops
+import .basic .comb .to_set .card .bigops .partition
diff --git a/library/data/finset/finset.md b/library/data/finset/finset.md
index 96ede67ae..23e540f87 100644
--- a/library/data/finset/finset.md
+++ b/library/data/finset/finset.md
@@ -8,3 +8,4 @@ Finite sets. By default, `import list` imports everything here.
 [to_set](to_set.lean) : interactions with sets
 [card](card.lean) : cardinality
 [bigops](bigops.lean) : finite unions and intersections
+[partition](partition.lean) : partitions of a type into finsets
diff --git a/library/data/finset/partition.lean b/library/data/finset/partition.lean
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c211a4440
--- /dev/null
+++ b/library/data/finset/partition.lean
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+/-
+Copyright (c) 2015 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
+Released under Apache 2.0 license as described in the file LICENSE.
+Author: Haitao Zhang
+
+Partitions of a type A into finite subsets of A. Such a partition is represented by
+a function f : A → finset A which maps every element a : A to its equivalence class.
+-/
+import .card
+open function eq.ops
+
+variable {A : Type}
+variable [deceqA : decidable_eq A]
+include deceqA
+
+namespace finset
+
+definition is_partition (f : A → finset A) := ∀ a b, a ∈ f b = (f a = f b)
+
+structure partition : Type :=
+(set : finset A) (part : A → finset A) (is_part : is_partition part)
+  (complete : set = Union set part)
+
+attribute partition.part [coercion]
+
+namespace partition
+
+definition equiv_classes (f : partition) : finset (finset A) :=
+image (partition.part f) (partition.set f)
+
+lemma equiv_class_disjoint (f : partition) (a1 a2 : finset A) (Pa1 : a1 ∈ equiv_classes f)
+    (Pa2 : a2 ∈ equiv_classes f) :
+  a1 ≠ a2 → a1 ∩ a2 = ∅ :=
+assume Pne,
+assert Pe1 : _, from exists_of_mem_image Pa1, obtain g1 Pg1, from Pe1,
+assert Pe2 : _, from exists_of_mem_image Pa2, obtain g2 Pg2, from Pe2,
+begin
+  apply inter_eq_empty_of_disjoint,
+  apply disjoint.intro,
+  rewrite [eq.symm (and.right Pg1), eq.symm (and.right Pg2)],
+  intro x,
+  rewrite [*partition.is_part f],
+  intro Pxg1, rewrite [Pxg1, and.right Pg1, and.right Pg2],
+  intro Pe, exact absurd Pe Pne
+end
+
+theorem class_equation (f : @partition A _) :
+  card (partition.set f) = nat.Sum (equiv_classes f) card :=
+let s := (partition.set f), p := (partition.part f), img := image p s in
+  calc
+    card s = card (Union s p) : partition.complete f
+       ... = card (Union img id) : image_eq_Union_index_image s p
+       ... = card (Union (equiv_classes f) id) : rfl
+       ... = nat.Sum (equiv_classes f) card : card_Union_of_disjoint _ id (equiv_class_disjoint f)
+
+lemma equiv_class_refl {f : A → finset A} (Pequiv : is_partition f) : ∀ a, a ∈ f a :=
+take a, by rewrite [Pequiv a a]
+
+-- make it a little easier to prove union from restriction
+lemma restriction_imp_union {s : finset A} (f : A → finset A) (Pequiv : is_partition f)
+    (Psub : ∀{a}, a ∈ s → f a ⊆ s) :
+  s = Union s f :=
+ext (take a, iff.intro
+  (assume Pains,
+    begin
+      rewrite [(Union_insert_of_mem f Pains)⁻¹, Union_insert],
+      apply mem_union_l, exact equiv_class_refl Pequiv a
+    end)
+  (assume Painu,
+    have Pclass : ∃ x, x ∈ s ∧ a ∈ f x,
+      from iff.elim_left (mem_Union_iff s f _) Painu,
+    obtain x Px, from Pclass,
+    have Pfx : f x ⊆ s, from Psub (and.left Px),
+    mem_of_subset_of_mem Pfx (and.right Px)))
+
+end partition
+end finset