Mathematics in the

Modern World
Basic Concepts
Sets

Prof. Emmanuel S. Natalio

Set Georg Cantor
1845-1918

 A set is a collection of objects

called elements

 The elements of a set must be

 distinct (should not contain duplicates)
 unordered (the ordering of elements is
insignificant)
 well-defined (you should be able to
determine whether or not a certain
element belongs to the set.

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Set and Set Elements
 Elements of the set are
separated by commas and
enclosed by braces { }.

 Example : The sets {1, 1, 2, 3},

{1, 2, 3, 3} and {2, 3, 1, 3} can
be written with three elements
{1, 2, 3}
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Finite and Infinite Sets
 A set is said to be finite if the
elements can be counted or
enumerated. Otherwise, it is
infinite.

 Example : The set of letters in the

English alphabet is finite, and the
set of counting numbers is infinite.

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Cardinality
 The number of elements in a finite
set is termed as the cardinality of
the set.

 Example : If A = {1, 2, 3}, then the

cardinality of A, denoted by |A |=3.

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Set Representations
 The roster method wherein we list or
enumerate the elements of a set
enclosed with braces.

 The rule method wherein we give a rule

which states the property satisfied by
all of the elements of the set. Usually
of the form {x/x has the property…}
read as “the set of all x’s such that x
has the property … }

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Set Representations
Example : The set A of all counting
numbers between 1 and 10
including 1 and 10.

Roster method: A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10}

Rule method: A = {x/x is a counting number

less than 11}.

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Symbols for some special infinite sets

N = {0, 1, 2, …} The natural numbers.

Z = {…, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, …} The integers.

Q = The rational numbers

R = The real numbers

C = The complex numbers

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Universal set and Empty set

 The universal set, , is the totality

of all elements in consideration.

 The set containing no elements is

called empty set (or null set),
denoted by  or { }. The cardinality
of  is 0.

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Set Membership
 x S (“x is an element of S”) is the
proposition that object x is an element
of or member of set S.

 Otherwise, x  S (is not an element of)

 Example : Let A = {1, 2, {1} }

 1  A, 2  A, and {1}  A.
 {2}  A, since {2} is not in set A.

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Set Containment
 S T (“S is a subset of T”) means that
every element of S is also an element of T.
 S T  x (x  S → x  T)
   S, S  S.
 S T (“S is a superset of T”) means T  S.
 S =T (“S is equal to T”)  S  T S  T.
 S  T means (S T), i.e. x (x S  x T)
 S T (“S is a proper subset of T”) means
that S  T but T  S.

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Example – Set Containment
 Let A = {1}, B = {{1}}, C = {1, {1}}

A  C and B  C
A is not a subset of B, since 1  {{1}}
A  C and B  C
A  B, since A is not a subset of B
A  A, since A = A

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Properties of set containment
Let A and B be any sets,

 A
 AA
 (A  B) → (A  B)

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Set Operations
 The power set of a set A, denoted by (A)
is the set of all subsets of A.
(A) = {x/x  A}

 The cardinality of a (A) is equal to 2|A|

 Example : If A = {1, 2, 3}
 (A) = {, {1}, {2}, {3}, {1,2}, (1,3}, {2,3},
{1,2,3}}
 Cardinality of (A) = 23 = 8

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Binary Operations on Sets
 Compliment of A
 A’ = {x/xU  xA}
 A’ is the set of all elements that are not in
A (but are in the universal set U}

 Union of A and B
 AB={x/x A  xB}
 AB is the set of all elements that are in A
or B.

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Binary Operations on Sets
 Intersection of A and B
 AB = {x/xA  xB}
 AB is the set of all elements that are in
both sets A and B.

 Difference of A and B
 A-B={x/x A  xB}
 A-B is the set of all elements that are in A
but not in set B.
 A-B = A B’
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Binary Operations on Sets
 Symmetric Difference of A and B
 AB = {x/ (x A  xB)   (x A  xB) }
 AB is the set of all elements that either
in A or B but not both
 AB = (AB) – (AB)

 Disjoint sets A and B

 AB = 
 A and B have no elements in common

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Binary Operations on Sets
 Let A = {1,3,5,7}, B = {1,2,3,4} and
U = {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10}

 AB = {1,2,3,4,5,7}
 AB = {1,3}
 A’ = {2,4,6,8,9,10}
 B’ = {5,6,7,8,9,10}
 A-B = {5,7}
 B-A = {2,4}
 AB = {2,4,5,7}

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Venn Diagram John Venn
1834-1923

 This gives a graphical

representation of set properties.

 The universal set is represented by a

rectangle, and subsets of the
universal set are represented by
circles or any closed polygon.

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Venn Diagram
U U
BA B A A B

U U
A’
A A -B A B
A’

U U

AB A B

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Venn Diagram

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Venn Diagram
 You could have a set made up of your
ten best friends:
 {alex, blair, casey, drew, erin, francis,
glen, hunter, ira, jade}
 Now let's say that alex, casey, drew
and hunter play Soccer:
 Soccer = {alex, casey, drew, hunter}
 And casey, drew and jade play Tennis:
 Tennis = {casey, drew, jade}

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Venn Diagram
We can put their names in two separate circles:

Union

You can now list your friends that play Soccer OR Tennis.
This is called a "Union" of sets and has the special symbol ∪:
Soccer ∪ Tennis = {alex, casey, drew, hunter, jade}

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Venn Diagram

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Venn Diagram

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Venn Diagram

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Venn Diagram

U=
{alex, blair, casey, drew, erin,
francis, glen, hunter, ira, jade}

U−S=
{blair, erin, francis, glen, ira, jade}

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Venn Diagram

S’ =
{blair, erin, francis, glen, ira, jade}
(exactly the same as the
U − S example from above)

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Practice Exercises
1. Let A = {{x}}
B = {x, {x}}
C= {x, {x, {x}}}
Write T if the statement is true,
write F, if otherwise.

a. x  A d. B  C
b. A  B e. B  C
c. A  B f.   B

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Practice Exercises
2. Consider the following sets
U = {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10}
A = {1,2,3,4,5}
B = {2,4,6,8}
C = {1,3,5,7,9}
D = {1,2,9,10}

Perform

a. (AB)C d. (A-(BC))D
b. A(BC) e. (AB)-(AB)’
c. A-(B-C) f. What is (())?

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Practice Exercises
3. Using Venn Diagram represent

a. (A-B)’
b. A’  B

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