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Set Theory
(i) If A and B are two sets, then
n(A B) = n(A) + n(B) – n(A B)
(ii) If A, B, and C are three sets, then
n(A B C) = n(A) + n(B) + n(c) – n(A B) – n(A C) – n(B C) + n(A B C)

Questions:

1. In a class of 1000 students, 64% of the students have opted for Mathematics and 56% for Physics. How many have
opted for both? (Given that each student opts for atleast one of the two subjects)
1. 100 2. 120 3. 140 4. 200

2. In a committee, 50 people speak French, 20 speak Spanish and 10 speak both Spanish and French. How many speak
atleast one of these two languages?
1. 50 2. 55 3. 60 4. 65

3. In a group of 1000 people, there are 750 people who can speak Hindi and 400 who can speak English. How many can
speak Hindi only?
1. 500 2. 600 3. 650 4. 700

4. In a school with 727 students, 600 students opted Mathematics and 173 students opted both Mathematics and Physics.
Each student is enrolled in atleast one of the two subjects. How many students are enrolled in Physics only?
1. 127 2. 173 3. 227 4. 273

5. In a school with 727 students, 600 students opt Mathematics and 173 students opt both Mathematics and Physics.
Each student is enrolled in atleast one of the two subjects. How many students are enrolled in Physics?
1. 250 2. 275 3. 280 4. 300

6. In a group of 45 students, 22 can speak Hindi only and 12 can speak English only. How many students can speak both
Hindi and English?
1. 14 2. 13 3. 12 4. 11

7. The member of a group of 400 people speak either Hindi or English or both. If 270 speak Hindi only and 50 speak
both Hindi and English, how many of them speak English only?
1. 70 2. 75 3. 80 4. 90

8. In a class of 33 students, 20 play cricket, 25 play football, & 18 play volleyball, 15 play both cricket & football, 12
play football & volleyball, 10 play cricket & volleyball. If each student plays atleast one game, find the number of
students who play only cricket.
1. 2 2. 3 3. 5 4. 6

9. In a class of 33 students, 20 play cricket, 25 play football, & 18 play volleyball, 15 play both cricket & football, 12
football & volleyball, 10 cricket & volleyball. If each student plays atleast one game, find the number of students: Who
play all the three games?
1. 2 2. 3 3. 4 4. 7

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10. In a class of 33 students, 20 play cricket, 25 play football, & 18 play volleyball, 15 play both cricket & football, 12
both football & volleyball, 10 both cricket & volleyball. If each student plays atleast one game, find the number of
students: Who play any two games?
1. 16 2. 17 3. 18 4. 19

11. In a class of 33 students, 20 play cricket, 25 play football, & 18 play volleyball, 15 play both cricket & football, 12
both football & volleyball, 10 both cricket & volleyball. If each student plays atleast one game, find the number of
students who play only one game.
1. 18 2. 16 3. 10 4. 9

12. In a certain zoo, there are 42 animals in one sector, 34 in the second sector and 20 in the third sector. Out of this, 24
graze in sector one and also in sector two, 10 graze in both sector two and sector three, 12 graze in both sector one and
sector three. These figures also include four animals who graze in all the three sectors. If all the animals are now
transported to another zoo, find the total number of animals.
1. 38 2. 50 3. 54 4. 64

13. In a town with population of 5000, 3200 people are egg-eaters, 2500 are meat eaters and 1500 eat both egg and meat.
How many are pure vegetarians i.e. neither meat-eaters nor egg-eaters?
1. 1000 2. 900 3. 800 4. 700

14. Of the members of three athletic teams in a certain school, 21 are in the basketball team, 26 in the hockey team, and
29 in the football team, 14 play hockey and basketball. 15 play hockey and football, and 12 play football and basketball,
8 are in all the three teams. How many members are there all together?
1. 38 2. 41 3. 43 4. 47

15. A group of tourists (104 in all) speak English or Spanish or Chinese. Out of these, 66 are English speaking, 74 are
Spanish speaking, & 64 Chinese speaking. 44 speak English & Spanish, 40 speak English & Chinese, 50 speak Spanish
& Chinese. The number of tourists speaking all the three languages will be:
1. 18 2. 26 3. 34 4. 36

16. A group of tourists (104 in all) speak English or Spanish or Chinese. Out of these, 66 are English speaking, 74 are
Spanish speaking, & 64 Chinese speaking. 44 speak English & Spanish, 40 speak English & Chinese, 50 speak Spanish
& Chinese. The number of people speaking neither English nor Spanish are :
1. 8 2. 34 3. 36 4. 38

17 .At a dinner where 240 men are seated, one-half of the men belong to middle–class, one third belong to upper-
middle-class and one-fourth belong to both the classes. How many men belong to neither of the class?
1. 50 2. 90 3. 100 4. 110

18. In a survey of 200 students of a higher secondary school, it was found that 120 studied Mathematics; 90 studied
Physics; and 70 studied Chemistry; 40 studied Mathematics and Physics; 30 studied Physics and Chemistry; 50 studied
Chemistry and Mathematics, and 20 studied none of these subjects. Find the number of students who studied all the
three subjects.
1. 10 2. 20 3. 25 4. 30

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19. In a town of 10,000 families, it was found that 40% of families buy newspaper A, 20% of families buy newspaper B
and 10% of families buy newspaper C, 5% of families buy A and B, 3% buy B and C, and 4% buy A and C. If 2% of
families buy all the three newspapers, calculate the number of families, which buy only A.
1. 3500 2. 3300 3. 2900 4. 2400

20. In a town of 10,000 families it was found that 40% of families buy newspaper A, 20% of families buy newspaper B
and 10% of families buy newspaper C, 5% of families buy A and B, 3% buy B and C and 4% buy A and C. If 2% of
families buy all the three newspapers, calculate the number of families, which buy none of A, B and C.
1. 4000 2. 4100 3. 4200 4. 5000

21. In a survey of population of 450 people, it is found that 205 can speak English, 210 people can speak Hindi and 120
people can speak Tamil. If 100 people can speak both English and Hindi, 80 people can speak both English and Tamil,
35 people can speak Hindi and Tamil, and 20 people can speak all the three languages, find the number of people who
can speak neither English nor Hindi nor Tamil.
1. 85 2. 95 3. 110 4. 115

22. In a school, 100 students opt for Hindi as an optional subject and 70 as French and Sanskrit each. Of these, 63 opt for
Hindi only, 47 French only, 12 Hindi and French only and 6 French and Sanskrit only. The number of students who opt
for all the three subjects is:
1. 10 2. 9 3. 6 4. 5

23. In a school, 100 students opt for Hindi as an optional subject and 70 as French and Sanskrit each. Of these, 63 opt for
Hindi only, 47 French only, 12 Hindi and French only and 6 French and Sanskrit only. The number of students opting
for Sanskrit only is:
1. 39 2. 37 3. 36 4. 32

24. In a school, 100 students opt for Hindi as an optional subject and 70 as French and Sanskrit each. Of these, 63 opt for
Hindi only, 47 French only, 12 Hindi and French only and 6 French and Sanskrit only. The total number of students will
be:
1. 212 2. 192 3. 186 4. 175

25. In a written test, 49% of who appeared passed section A, and 35% section B. If 25% passed both sections A and B,
find the percentage of failure.
1. 51% 2. 41% 3. 38% 4. 27%

Answers and Explanation:

1. Answer : ( 4 )

Explanation : Total no. of student = 1000 No. of students opting Maths = 640 No. of students
opting Physics = 560 Here, a + x + b = 1000 \ 640 – x + x + 560 – x = 1000 x = 200
2. Answer : ( 3 )

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Explanation : No. of people who speak French = 50 No. of people who speak Spanish = 20 No. of
people both Spanish & French = 10 No. of people who speak atleast one of the two languages = No. of people speaking
only French +No. of people speaking only Spanish+ No. of people speaking both French & Spanish. = (50 – 10) + 10 +
(20 – 10) = 60.
3. Answer : ( 2 )

Explanation :

Total no. of people = 1000 No. of people speak Hindi = 750 No. of people speak English = 400 Here, a + x + b = 1000
\ 750 – x + x + 400 – x = 1000x = 150Hence, Hindi only = 750 - 150 = 600
4. Answer : ( 1 )

Explanation :
No. of students in the school = 727 Students who offer Mathematics = 600 Students who offer both Maths & Physics =
173 \ from the diagram, (600 – 173) + 173 + x = 727 \ x = 127. i.e. No. of students enrolled in Physics only = 127.
5. Answer : ( 4 )
Explanation : No. of students enrolled in Physics = 127 + 173 = 300.
6. Answer : ( 4 )

Explanation : No. of students in the group = 45 No. of students who speak only Hindi = 22 No. of
students who speak only English = 12 Let ‘x’ be the no. of students who speak both Hindi & English \ 22 + x + 12 = 45
\ x = 11.
7. Answer : ( 3 )

Explanation : No. of people in the group = 400 \ 270 + 50 + x = 400 \ x = 80.

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8. Answer : ( 1 )

Explanation : Let C, F & V denote the sets of no of students w ho play cricket, football &
volleyball resp. \ n(C) = 20, n(F) = 25, n(V) = 18 From the above, we get (x - 5) + (x - 4) + (x - 2) +(15 - x) + (12 - x) +
(10 - x) + x = 33 x = 7 who play cricket only are 7 - 5 = 2
9. Answer : ( 4 )
Explanation : \ No. of students who play all 3 games = 7.
10. Answer : ( 1 )
Explanation : No. of who play any 2 games = Total – [students who play all 3 games + Students who play only 1 game]
= 33 – [7 + 10] = 16.
11. Answer : ( 3 )
Explanation :
No. of students who play only one game
= No. who play (C only + V only + F only)
= 2 + 3 + 5 = 10.

12. Answer : ( 3 )

Explanation :
Let I, II, III resp. the sets of animals grazing in 1st, 2nd & 3rd sectors of zoo.. As in the previous question, from the venn
diagram. Total no. of animals = 10 + 20 + 4 + 8 + 4 + 6 + 2 = 54
13. Answer : ( 3 )

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Explanation :
\ Total no. of egg or meat eaters = 1700 + 1500 + 1000 = 4200 \ No. of pure vegetarians = 5000 – 4200 = 800.
14. Answer : ( 3 )

Explanation :
No. of players in basket ball team = 21
No. of players in hockey Team = 26
No. of players in football Team = 29
Now apply the Venn Diagram Rule :
b + g = 14
d + g = 15
f + g = 12 &g=8
\ b = 6, d = 7 & f = 4
a = 21 – b – g – f = 21 – 6 – 8 – 4 = 3
c = 26 – 6 – 8 – 7 = 5
e = 29 – 8 – 7 – 4 = 10
\
Total players = a + b + c + d + e + f + g

= 3 + 6 + 5 + 7 + 10 + 4 + 8 = 43.

15. Answer : ( 3 )
Explanation : Apply the direct formulan(E) + n(S) + n(C) - n(EÇS) - n(SÇC) - n(CÇE) + n(EÇSÇC) = n(EÈSÈC) 66 +
74 + 64 - 44 - 40 - 50 + n(EÇSÇC) = 104n(EÇSÇC) = 34
16. Answer : ( 1 )
Explanation : No. of people speaking neither English nor Spanish i.e. people who only speak Chinese are = 8.

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17. Answer : ( 3 )

Explanation :

This problem can be solved with the help of a Venn diagram Number of men belonging to middle class = 240 x 1/2 =
120 Number of men belonging to upper middle class = 240 x 1/3 = 80 Number of men belonging to both the classes =
240 x 1/4 = 60 We have identified 60 + 60 + 20 = 140 men as having well-defined class 240 – 140 = 100 men belong to
neither of the class.

18. Answer : ( 2 )

Explanation :
The total no. of students studying one of the three subjects = 200 – 20 =180 by putting directly in formula, we getn(M Ç
P Ç C) = 20

19. Answer : ( 2 )

Explanation : Let A, B, C denote the sets of families buying newspapers A, B & C resp.
\ n(A) = 4000, n(B) = 2000 & n(C) = 1000

20. Answer : ( 1 )
Explanation :

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No. of families who buy none of A, B & C

= Total no. of families – (No. of families who buy either A or B or C)
= 10,000 – (3300 + 1400 + 500 + 300 + 200 + 200 + 200 + 100) = 4000.

21. Answer : ( 3 )
Explanation : No. of people speaking atleast one language = 205 + 210 + 120 – 100 – 80 – 35 – 20 = 340 Hence, (450 –
340) = 110 people can speak none of the languages.

22. Answer : ( 4 )

Explanation :
If we assume ‘x’ to be the no. of students who opt for all the three subjects; then from the diagram. No. of students
offering French = 12 + x + 47 + 6 Also, we are given this no. as 70 \ 65 + x = 70 & x = 5.

23. Answer : ( 1 )
Explanation :
Students opting for Sanskrit only = Students opting Sanskrit – (Students opting all three + Students opting S & F +
Students opting S & H) = 70 – (25 – x) + x + 6) = 39.

24. Answer : ( 2 )
25. Answer : ( 2 )

Explanation :
From the Venn diagram (24 + 25 + 10) passed in one or both. \ 41% failed on both.

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