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Definition

Properties

⊂ and ⊃ symbols

Examples of subsets


Other properties of inclusion

See also

References

Bibliography

External links

Subset
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Superset" redirects here. For other uses, see Superset (disambiguation).
"⊃" redirects here. For the logic symbol, see horseshoe (symbol). For other uses,
see horseshoe (disambiguation).
Euler diagram showing
A is a subset of B,  A ⊆ B,  and conversely B is a superset of A,  B ⊇ A.

In mathematics, set A is a subset of a set B if all elements of A are also elements

of B; B is then a superset of A. It is possible for A and B to be equal; if they are
unequal, then A is a proper subset of B. The relationship of one set being a subset of
another is called inclusion (or sometimes containment). A is a subset of B may also
be expressed as B includes (or contains) A or A is included (or contained) in B. A k-
subset is a subset with k elements.
The subset relation defines a partial order on sets. In fact, the subsets of a given set
form a Boolean algebra under the subset relation, in which the join and meet are given
by intersection and union, and the subset relation itself is the Boolean inclusion relation.

Definition[edit]
If A and B are sets and every element of A is also an element of B, then:
 A is a subset of B, denoted by , or equivalently,
 B is a superset of A, denoted by 
If A is a subset of B, but A is not equal to B (i.e. there exists at least one element of
B which is not an element of A), then:
 A is a proper (or strict) subset of B, denoted by , or equivalently,
 B is a proper (or strict) superset of A, denoted by .
The empty set, written  or  is a subset of any set X and a proper subset of any
set except itself, the inclusion relation  is a partial order on the set  (the power
set of S—the set of all subsets of S[1]) defined by . We may also partially
order  by reverse set inclusion by defining 
When quantified,  is represented as [2]
We can prove the statement  by applying a proof technique known as the
element argument[3]:
Let sets A and B be given. To prove that 

1. suppose that a is a particular but arbitrarily chosen element of A

2. show that a is an element of B.
The validity of this technique can be seen as a consequence of Universal
generalization: the technique shows  for an arbitrarily chosen element c.
Universal generalisation then implies  which is equivalent to  as stated above.
The set of all subsets of  is called its powerset, and is denoted by . The set of
all -subsets of  is denoted by , in analogue with the notation for binomial
coefficients, which count the number of -subsets of an -element set. In set
theory, the notation  is also common, especially when  is a transfinite cardinal
number.

Properties[edit]
 A set A is a subset of B if and only if their intersection is equal to A.
Formally:

 A set A is a subset of B if and only if their union is equal to B.

Formally:

 A finite set A is a subset of B, if and only if the cardinality of

their intersection is equal to the cardinality of A.
Formally:

⊂ and ⊃ symbols[edit]
Some authors use the symbols  and  to
indicate subset and superset respectively; that is, with the
same meaning as and instead of the symbols  and [4] For
example, for these authors, it is true of every set A that 
Other authors prefer to use the symbols  and  to
indicate proper (also called strict) subset
and proper superset respectively; that is, with the same
meaning as and instead of the symbols  and [5] This usage
makes  and  analogous to the inequality symbols  and  For
example, if  then x may or may not equal y, but
if  then x definitely does not equal y, and is less than y.
Similarly, using the convention that  is proper subset,
if  then A may or may not equal B, but if  then A definitely
does not equal B.

Examples of subsets[edit]
 The regular polygons form a subset of the polygons.

 The set A = {1, 2} is a proper subset of B = {1, 2, 3},

thus both expressions  and  are true.
 The set D = {1, 2, 3} is a subset (but not a proper
subset) of E = {1, 2, 3}, thus  is true, and  is not true
(false).
 Any set is a subset of itself, but not a proper subset. ( is
true, and  is false for any set X.)
 The set {x: x is a prime number greater than 10} is a
proper subset of {x: x is an odd number greater than
10}
 The set of natural numbers is a proper subset of the set
of rational numbers; likewise, the set of points in a line
segment is a proper subset of the set of points in a line.
These are two examples in which both the subset and
the whole set are infinite, and the subset has the
same cardinality (the concept that corresponds to size,
that is, the number of elements, of a finite set) as the
whole; such cases can run counter to one's initial
intuition.
 The set of rational numbers is a proper subset of the
set of real numbers. In this example, both sets are
infinite, but the latter set has a larger cardinality
(or power) than the former set.
Another example in an Euler diagram:

A is a proper subset of B.
 
 

C is a subset but not a proper subset of B.

Other properties of inclusion[edit]

 and  implies 

Inclusion is the canonical partial order, in the sense that

every partially ordered set  is isomorphic to some collection
of sets ordered by inclusion. The ordinal numbers are a
simple example: if each ordinal n is identified with the
set  of all ordinals less than or equal to n, then  if and only
if 
For the power set  of a set S, the inclusion partial order is
—up to an order isomorphism—the Cartesian
product of  (the cardinality of S) copies of the partial order
on  for which  This can be illustrated by enumerating , and
associating with each subset  (i.e., each element of ) the k-
tuple from  of which the ith coordinate is 1 if and only if  is
a member of T.

See also[edit]
 Convex subset
 Inclusion order
 Region
 Subset sum problem
 Subsumptive containment
 Total subset

References[edit]
 1. ^ Weisstein, Eric W. "Subset".  mathworld.wolfram.com.
Retrieved 2020-08-23.
2. ^ Rosen, Kenneth H. (2012). Discrete Mathematics and Its
Applications  (7th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
p. 119.  ISBN  978-0-07-338309-5.
3. ^ Epp, Susanna S. (2011). Discrete Mathematics with
Applications  (Fourth  ed.). p. 337.  ISBN  978-0-495-39132-6.
4. ^ Rudin, Walter (1987),  Real and complex analysis (3rd  ed.),
New York:  McGraw-Hill, p. 6, ISBN 978-0-07-054234-
1, MR  0924157
5. ^ Subsets and Proper Subsets  (PDF), archived from the
original  (PDF)  on 2013-01-23, retrieved  2012-09-07

Bibliography[edit]
 Jech, Thomas (2002). Set Theory. Springer-
Verlag. ISBN 3-540-44085-2.

External links[edit]
  Media related to Subsets at Wikimedia Commons
 Weisstein, Eric W. "Subset". MathWorld.
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 Basic concepts in set theory
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