CHAPTER 1: SETS

What is a Set?
A set is a well-defined collection of distinct objects.

The objects in a set are called the elements or members of the set.

Capital letters A, B, C… usually denote Sets.

Lowercase letters a, b, c… denote the Elements of a Set.

Examples

The collection of the vowels in the word “probability”.

The collection of real numbers that satisfy the equation.

The collection of two-digit positive integers divisible by 5.

The collection of great football players in the National Football League.

The collection of intelligent members of the United States Congress.

The Empty Set

The set with no elements.

Also called as Void set.

Also called the Null set.

Denoted by the symbol φ. (Fai)

Example
The set of real numbers x that satisfy the equation.

Finite and Infinite Sets

A Finite set is one which can be counted.

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 Examples
The set of two-digit positive integers has 90 elements.

The set of days in a week (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,

Saturday, Sunday) is a finite set with 7 elements.
The set of primary colors (Red, Blue, Yellow) is a finite set with 3 elements.
The set of seasons (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter) is a finite set with 4
elements.
The set of planets in our solar system (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus, Neptune) is a finite set with 8 elements.

An Infinite set is one which cannot be counted.

Examples

The set of integer multiples of the number 5.

The set of natural numbers (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ...) is an infinite set.

The set of real numbers (including all rational and irrational numbers) is an
infinite set.

The set of all even numbers (2, 4, 6, 8, ...) is an infinite set.

The Cardinality of a Set

Cardinality refers to the number of elements in a set.

Notation: n(A)

For finite sets A, n(A) is the number of elements of A.

For infinite sets A, write n(A)=∞.

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 Two Methods of Writing a Set
Enumeration or Roster Method

List the elements explicitly, e.g.,

This means to clearly write down all the individual elements that belong to the set.

Rule Method

List the elements implicitly, e.g.,

This means to describe the set in a way that doesn't provide a complete, explicit list
of all its individual elements. Instead, you define the set by using a rule, condition,
or characteristic that its elements must satisfy.

Use set builder notation, e.g.,

Note:
Instead of using “|” in writing sets, you could use “;”.
An Empty set (null set) is different from a set with a “0” element.

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 The Universal Set
A set U that includes all of the elements under consideration in a particular
discussion.

Depends on the context.

A Universal Set is a collection of all elements or members of all the related sets.

Examples

The set of Latin letters.

The set of natural numbers.

The set of points on a line.

Suppose you are rolling a fair six-sided die. The universal set, in this case,
is {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6} because it includes all the possible outcomes when
rolling the die.

The Membership Relation

Let A be a set and let x be some object.

Notation:

Meaning: x is a member of A, or x is
an element of A, or x belongs to A.

Examples

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 Negated by writing:

Equality of Sets
Two sets A and B are equal, denoted A=B, if they have the same elements.

Otherwise, A≠B.

Examples

The set A of odd positive integers is not equal to the set B of prime
numbers.

The set of odd integers between 4 and 8 is equal to the set of prime
numbers between 4 and 8. (5 and 7)

Note:
Prime Number: A prime number is a natural number greater than 1
that has only two distinct positive divisors: 1 and itself. In other
words, a prime number cannot be evenly divided by any other
number except for 1 and itself.
Examples include 2, 3, 5, 7, and 11.
Odd Number: An odd number is a natural number that is not
divisible by 2. These numbers leave a remainder of 1 when divided

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 by 2.
Examples of odd numbers include 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9.

Subsets
A subset is a set that contains only some or all of the elements of another set. In
simpler terms, if you have a set of items, a subset is a smaller group of items from
that set.

A is a Subset of B if every element of A is an element of B.

Notation:

For each set A,

For each set B,

a Proper Subset is a subset that is smaller than the original set because it does not
include all the elements of the original set.

A is Proper Subset of B if

Unions
A Union is a mathematical operation that combines two sets to create a new set that
contains all the unique elements from both sets.

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 The Union of two sets A and B is

The word “or” is inclusive.

Intersection
It represents the overlap or shared elements between the sets.

Examples

Let A be the set of even positive integers and B be the set of prime positive
integers. Then:

With Intersection you use the word “and”.

The Intersection of A and B is:

Disjoint sets are sets that have no elements in common. In other words, if two sets
are disjoint, their intersection is the null set (a set with no elements).

A and B are Disjoint if:

Complements

CHAPTER 1: SETS 7
 The complement of a set is the set of all elements that are not in the given set but
belong to a universal set. The universal set is a larger set that contains all the
elements under consideration.

If A is a subset of the universal set U, then the complement of A is the set:

Note that:

Venn Diagrams
Is a pictorial representation where sets are represented by enclosed areas in a
plane.

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 Possible Venn Diagram for Two Sets

The Complement of a Set

The Union of Two Sets

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 The Intersection of Two Sets

Sets Formed by Two Sets

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 Two Basic Counting Rules
If A and B are Finite sets.

Difference
The difference of A and B denoted by A - B, is the set of elements which belong to A
but which do not belong to B.

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 Symmetric Difference
It consists of those elements which belong to A or B, but not both A and B.

Laws of Sets

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CHAPTER 1: SETS 13