Mathematics Course – Day 1

NOTES
CHAPTER 0. SETS
1. A set is a group of objects with a well-defined criterion for membership. In this case, we
are talking about sets of numbers - a group of numbers with similar characteristic.

2. Sub-sets is part of a set.

3. Sub-sets of R ?
Symbols Meaning Example
(a,b) x  (a, b)  a  x  b x  ( 3, 2)  3  x  2
[a,b] x   a, b   a  x  b x   10, 2  10  x  2
(a,b] x   a, b   a  x  b x   2, 4   2  x  4
( ;  ) 
(; a ) or (; a ] x  a or x  a
(a;  ) or [a, ) x  a or x  a

4. Union, intersection and substraction ?

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5. Union, intersection and substraction on subsets ?

Example : A   7;3 & B  1;8

Operations Symbols Result Explanation

Union A  B   7;3  1;8 ( 7;8]

Intersection A  B  (7,3)  1;8 [1;3)

A \ B  (7,3) \ 1;8 (7;1)

Substraction
B \ A  1;8 \ (7,3) ….. ………………….

6. Find the union, intersection, and substrations between C & D, knowing that :
A  (, 2]
B  (1, 4)

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
7. Let’s check if we can list out all the elements of these following sets !

A   x  N | 2  x  14 C   x  Z | (2 x  3)(3 x  4)  0
B   x  R | x 2  4  5 D   x  Q | 2 x 2  5

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 CHAPTER 1 . FRACTIONS – RATIONAL EXPRESSIONS
1. Q – set of rational numbers
2. A fraction is actually a division with a dividend - the numerator - and a divisor -the denominator. The
form of a proper fraction is shown as below :

a
b  0
b

3. A fixed number is a combination of an integer and a fraction. In a mixed number, an integer is added to a
fraction:

b b
a a
c c

13 3 3 2.4  3 11 1 3.11  1 34
Example : 2 ; 2   ; 3  
5 5 4 4 4 11 11 11
4. How to put the minus symbol into a fraction ? Can we change that position ?

a a a a a
   
b b b b b

5. Fractions’s properties
Property 1 :When we multiply both the numerator and the denominator of a fraction by a same number, we
get a corresponding fraction equal to the original fraction.

a a.c

b b.c

Property 2 : When we divide both the numerator and denominator of a fraction by a same number, we get a
corresponding fraction equal to the original.

a a:c

b b:c

Property 3: Other special properties

1 a
 a 1 1
a a

a a a a a a
a    
1 b b b b b

6. Comparing fractions
- Comparing two fractions
+ with the same numerator ?
+ with the same denominator ?
+ with different numerator & denominator ?
a c
+ what happen if  ?
b d

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- Comparing fractions with integers, percentages, or fixed numbers

- Comparing fractions with 0 - Comparing fractions with 1

a a
+ when would a fraction  0 ? + when would a fraction  1 ?
b b
a a
+ when would a fraction  0 ? + when would a fraction  1 ?
b b
a a
+ when would a fraction  0 ? + when would a fraction  1 ?
b b

7. Operations on fractions
+ Addition and substration :
2 4 2 4
Example : Perform addition  and subtraction 
11 15 11 15
We have : LCM (11,15)  165

x 1 x 1
Example. Perform addition 2
 and subtraction 2

3y 2x  3y 3y 2x  3 y

+ Multiplication & Division

a c ac a c a d ad
     
b d bd b d b c bc
Example :

2 1 2 1 x2 y 1
  .................   ............................   ......................................
3 11 3 11 1  3 y xy

a
Note : b  ad
c bc
d

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 CHAPTER 2 : EXPONENTIATIONS
1. Exponentiation or power is a operation on the base ( or factor ) and the exponent. It can be considered as
a form of a multiplication of n identical numbers a :

a
 a  a 
.........
  a  a a  a n
n

In which n is called the exponent and a is called the base.

2. The base and the exponent don’t have to be a number always.
Example :

+ Base and exponent are numbers : 311

+Base and exponents are numbers and variables : 3x ; x3

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+Base and exponents are algebraic expressions : (2 x 3  1) 4 ;(2 x 2  3x) 4 x 1 ;sin 2 x

3. Pay attention to these specific expressions :

a. When the base is 0 or 1 : 0n  0;1n  1

b. When exponents are 0 , 1 , 2 or 3 : a 0  1; a1  a
1
c. When the exponents are negative numbers : an  n
a

4. Operations on exponentiations
Important note :
Power doesn’t have those properties of commutative, cohesive or distributive.
m n
an  am
m
a ( n )  (a n ) m
+ Operations on base ( a )
This kind of calculations applied in the cases where exponentiations have the same exponent.
n
n n n n n n an a
a  b  (a  b) a : b  (a : b)  
bn b
+ Calculations on exponents ( m, n)
This kind of calculations applied in the cases where exponentiations have the same base.

m n mn am
a a  a a : a  n  a mn
m n

a
m n mn  m   (a m ) n
n

a  a m n
a a
m 1
a n
 a m
 n
 n am
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 CHAPTER 3. ROOTS. SQUARE ROOTS. RADICALS.
1. As we have mentioned above, root is an inverse operation of exponentiation. It allows the calculation to
find the base of a power when we already know the value of that power and also the exponent. Assuming
that we have an exponentiation like following :

an  b
2. A root would give us the value of a , which satisfy a n  b :

an  b  n b  a
3. Basic properties of n th root of a number
n
n
1
a.b  n a . n b
a  an
a na
n
a n .b  a. n b n 
b nb
m n
a  m.n a 2n
a 2 n  a (n  N *)
m m
 a
n
 n am  a n
2 n 1
a 2 n 1  a (n  N )

4. Square root and its radicand condition

When n=2 , the operation now is an inverse of the square power . Square root of a given number is a non
negative number that must be multiplied times itself to equal the given number. The square root of a is
1
written a or a 2 . In this case we don’t have to add the number 2 on the radical sign.

Property 1.Condition of the radicand

Example : Square roots that meet the deterministic condition : 2, a 2 , a 2  2ab  b 2

a.The deterministic condition of 3x is 3x  0 , or x  0 , so the deterministic set of the variable is D   0,  

2y
b. The deterministic condition of is 3 x  0 , or x  0 , so the deterministic set of the variable is D  (0,  )
3x
Property 2. The two values

With every nonnegative number b, there are always two possible values of a that satisfies a 2  b respectively
signed as a  b and a   b , sometimes also signed briefly as  b .

Property 3. Basic rules of calculation

 x( x  0) a a a
x2  x    (  0, a  0, b  0)
 x( x  0) b b b
1
2
ab  a b a a