SETS

Basic Concepts of Sets
To know the basic concepts of sets let us understand from our

day to day life we often speak or hear about different types of
collections.
Such as:
(i) a collection of pens
(ii) a collection of dolls
(iii) a collection of books, etc.
1
In the same way we have different types of

groups made for different activity such as:
(i) a group of boys playing cricket
(ii) a group of girls playing tennis
(iii) a group of friends going for movie, etc.
2 2
•A set is a collection of particular things
or group of particular objects.
•The theory of sets as developed George Cantor is

being used in all branches of mathematics nowadays.
•According to him ‘A set is a well defined collection of
distinct objects of our perception or of our thought, to
be conceived as a whole’.
3
As in the case of the concepts of geometrical point, line and a plane, a
rigid definition is not possible for a set also. Is the intuitive conception
of a collection or assemblage of things, real or conceptual.
The examples of the basic concepts of sets are:
(i) a set of living cricketers in the Cebu,
(ii) a set of the rules for the badminton game,
(iii) a set of integers with prescribed conditions,
(iv) a set of books in the library,
(v) a set of the states in America.
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Definition of set:
A set is a collection of well-defined objects.
Well-defined means, it must be absolutely clear that which object

belongs to the set and which does not.
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Examples:
1. The collection of vowels in English alphabets. This set contains five
elements, namely, a, e, i, o, u.
2. A group of “Singers with ages between 18 years and 25 years” is a
set, because the range of ages of the singer is given and so it can easily
be decided that which singer is to be included and which is to be
excluded. Hence, the objects are well-defined.
3. A collection of “Red flowers” is a set, because every red flowers will
be included in this set i.e., the objects of the set are well-defined.
4. The collection of past presidents of the Philippines is a set.
5. A group of “Young dancers” is not a set, as the range of the ages of
young dancers is not given and so it can’t be decided that which dancer
is to be considered young i.e., the objects are not well-defined.
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Sets Representation
•Roster form - listing the elements separated by
commas and enclosed in a pair of curly bracket
({ })
• Example: V = {a, e, i, o, u}
•Set-builder form - describing the elements in
terms of some common property
• Example: V = {x | x is a vowel of English
alphabet}.
Note: “e is an element of V” or “e belongs to V”,
we write e V
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Language of mathematics use some standard sets and notations:
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•
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If the elements of a set can be counted, the set is
finite, otherwise, it is called infinite.
The set of real numbers, R, is infinite, while the set
B = {x ∈ | 3 ≤ x < 5} is finite. Why?
 The cardinal number of a set B refers to the
number of elements in that set, denoted as
n(B) or |B|.
What is the cardinal number of B?
Note: A set with only one element is called a singleton set or singleton.
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Comments
• Must be annoying to stay in this hotel. Moving rooms
every time a new guest arrives. I’ll just leave thank you.
Ken
• I'm infinitely confused. Rajdeep
• Can somebody tell the manager that room sqrt(42) is
being noisy? I don't want to climb down an infinite set of
stairs to go tell him. Also, as expected this hotel is no
exception to the norm and does not have infinite free wifi.
Cyranek
• The elevator ride must kill... Joseph
• That old lady is tired of that managers bullcrap. She ain't
playing these games. BatSnacks
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• If each element of set X is also an element of Y, then “X is a subset of
Y” or “X is contained in Y”, denoted by X Y.
• If X is a subset of Y but X is not equal to Y, then, “X is a proper subset
of Y”, denoted by X Y.
• The total number of subsets of a set is where n is the number of
elements in that set.
• Example: set A = {0, 1} has 4 subsets, namely: { } or ∅, {0}, {1), and {0, 1}
• The power set P (X) of a set X is the set of all subsets of X. Thus, the
power set of A={0, 1} is P(A) = {{},{0},{1},{0, 1}}. From the example
above: ∅ A, 0 ∈ A, {0} A, {0} ∈ P (A).
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Some operations that can be performed on, say, two sets X and Y:
X – Y read as “X minus Y” is a set of those elements which are in X but not in Y;
C
X or 𝐗 read as “complement of X” is a set of those elements which are in the universal set
but not in X, that is, U–X;
X∩Y read as “X intersection Y” is a set of those elements common to both sets;
X∪Y read as “X union Y” is a set of those elements which belongs to either set;
X x Y read as “Cartesian product of X and Y” is the set of all ordered pairs (x, y)
where x∈X and y∈Y.
We write it as X x Y = {(x, y) | x∈X and y∈Y}.
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Venn diagram is a diagram
representing mathematical or
logical sets pictorially as circles or
closed curves within an enclosing
rectangle (the universal set),
common elements of the sets
being represented by the areas of
overlap among the circles.
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Some operations that can be
performed on, say, two sets E F
E = {0, 1, 2, 3} and F = {2, 4}.
0
E – F = {0, 1, 3}  1 2 4
3
15
•
E F
0
1 2 4
3
16
•
E F
0
1 2 4
3
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Some operations that can be performed on, say, two sets
E = {0, 1, 2, 3} and F = {2, 4}.
List down the elements of E x F.

Hint: |E x F| = 8
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Exercises
For A = {1, 2}, B = {2, 3}, U = {1, 2, Out of forty students, 14 are
3, 4}, find the following using a taking English Composition and 29
Venn diagram: are taking Chemistry. If five
1. A U B students are in both classes,
1. How many students are in
2. A ∩ B neither class?
3. A – B 2. How many are in either class?
4. A’ 3. How many students are taking
Chemistry but not English
5. B’ - A Composition?
6. A’ ∩ B’
19

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SETS

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Basic Concepts of Sets

To know the basic concepts of sets let us understand from our

In the same way we have different types of

•The theory of sets as developed George Cantor is

Well-defined means, it must be absolutely clear that which object

List down the elements of E x F.

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