ACC 103 LECTURE NOTES

Introductory Mathematics for Accounting 1

Course Outline:
• Mathematical concepts in the management sciences
• Set theory; factors, surds and indices
• Logarithms, functions and relations
• Equations and inequalities
• Sequences and series
• Elementary matrix algebra
• Trigonometry and trigonometry functions
• Functions and co-ordinate geometry

SET THEORY AND VENN DIAGRAM

INTRODUCTION
Set Theory is a branch of mathematical logic where we learn sets and their properties. A set is a
collection of objects or groups of objects. These objects are often called elements or members of a set.
Sets can be related to many real-life examples, such as the number of rivers in Nigeria, number of
colours in a rainbow, a group of players in a football team etc.

Example
To understand sets, consider a practical scenario. While going to school from home, Adeniyi decided
to note down the names of restaurants he came across. The list of the restaurants, in the order they
came, will be:

List 1=R A R B R C R D R E

The objects in a set are referred to as elements of the set. A set can have finite or infinite elements.
Note: The arrangement of the elements in a set (i.e., the order in which the items
appear) does not matter.

Representation of Sets
Sets can be represented in two ways:
1. Roster Form or Tabular form
2. Set Builder Form

Roster Form
In roster form, all the elements of the set are listed, separated by commas and enclosed between curly
braces { }.
Example: If set represents all the leap years between the year 1995 and 2015, then it would be
described using Roster form as:
A ={1996,2000,2004,2008,2012}
Now, the elements inside the braces are written in ascending order. This could be descending order or
any random order. As discussed before, the order doesn’t matter for a set represented in the Roster
Form.
Also, multiplicity is ignored while representing the sets. E.g. If L represents a set that contains all the
letters in the word ADDRESS, the proper Roster form representation would be
L ={A,D,R,E,S }= {S,E,D,A,R}
L≠ {A,D,D,R,E,S,S}

Set Builder Form

In set builder form, all the elements have a common property. This property is not applicable to the
objects that do not belong to the set.
Example: If set S has all the elements which are even prime numbers, it is represented as:
S={ x: x is an even prime number}
where ‘x’ is a symbolic representation that is used to describe the element.
‘:’ means ‘such that’
‘{}’ means ‘the set of all’
So, S = { x:x is an even prime number } is read as ‘the set of all x such that x is an even prime number’.
The roster form for this set S would be S = 2. This set contains only one element. Such sets are called
singleton/unit sets.
Another Example:
F = {p: p is a set of two-digit perfect square numbers}

How?

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F = {16, 25, 36, 49, 64, 81}
We can see, in the above example, 16 is a square of 4, 25 is square of 5, 36 is square of 6, 49 is square
of 7, 64 is square of 8 and 81 is a square of 9}.
Even though, 4, 9, 121, etc., are also perfect squares, but they are not elements of the set F, because the
it is limited to only two-digit perfect square.

Describing and naming sets

 A set is a collection of objects, called the elements of the set.
 A set must be well defined, meaning that its elements can be described and
listed without ambiguity. For example:

{ 1, 3, 5 } and { letters of the English alphabet }.

 Two sets are called equal if they have exactly the same elements.
o The order is irrelevant.
o Any repetition of an element is ignored.
 If a is an element of a set S, we write a ∈ S.
 If b is not an element of a set S, we write b ∉ S.

Types of Sets
The sets are further categorised into different types, based on elements or types of elements. These
different types of sets in basic set theory are:

1. Finite set: The number of elements is finite

2. Infinite set: The number of elements are infinite

A set is termed finite if we can list all their elements. Here are two examples:

{ whole numbers between 2000 and 2005 } = { 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 }

{ whole numbers between 2000 and 3000 } = { 2001, 2002, 2003,…, 2999 }

The three dots ‘…’ in the second example stand for the other 995 numbers in the set. We could have
listed them all, but to save space we have used dots instead. This notation can only be used if it is
completely clear what it means, as in this situation.

Meanwhile, a set can also be infinite – in this instance, all that matters is that it is well defined. Here
are two examples of infinite sets:

{ even whole numbers } = { 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, …}

{ whole numbers greater than 2000 } = { 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, …}

Both these sets are infinite because no matter how many elements we list, there will always be more
elements in the set that are not on our list. This time the dots ‘…’ have a slightly different meaning,
because they stand for infinitely many elements that we could not possibly list, no matter how long we
tried.

The numbers of elements of a set

If S is a finite set, the symbol | S | stands for the number of elements of S. For example:
If S = { 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 }, then | S | = 5.
If A = { 1001, 1002, 1003, …, 3000 }, then | A | = 2000.
If T = { letters in the English alphabet }, then | T | = 26.
3. Empty set: It means it has no elements
The symbol ∅ represents the empty set, which is the set that has no elements at all. Nothing in the
whole universe is an element of ∅:
| ∅ | = 0 and x ∉ ∅, no matter what x may be.
There is only one empty set, because any two empty sets have exactly the same elements, so they must
be equal to one another.

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 4. Singleton set: It has one only element.
A one-element set is a set such as S = { 5 } with | S | = 1. The set S = { 5 } is a one-element
set because | S | = 1. It is important to distinguish between the number 5 and the set S =
{ 5 }:5 ∈ S but 5 ≠ S .
5. Equal set: Two sets are equal if they have same elements
6. Equivalent set: Two sets are equivalent if they have same number of elements
7. Power set: A set of every possible subset.
8. Universal set: Any set that contains all the sets under consideration.
9. Subset: When all the elements of set A belong to set B, then A is subset of B

Set Theory Symbols

There are several symbols that are adopted for common sets. They are given in the table below:
Table 1: Symbols denoting common sets
Symbol Corresponding Set
N Represents the set of all Natural numbers i.e. all the positive integers. This can also be
represented by Z+. Examples: 9, 13, 906, 607, etc.
Z Represents the set of all integers. The symbol is derived from the German word Zahl, which
means number. Positive and negative integers are denoted by Z+ and Z– respectively.
Examples: -12, 0, 23045, etc.
Q Represents the set of Rational numbers. The symbol is derived from the word Quotient. It is
defined as the quotient of two integers (with non-zero denominator). Positive and negative
rational numbers are denoted by Q+ and Q– respectively. Examples: 13/9. -6/7, 14/3, etc.
R Represents the Real numbers i.e. all the numbers located on the number line. Positive and
negative real numbers are denoted by R+ and R– respectively. Examples: 4.3, π, 4√ 3, etc.
C Represents the set of Complex numbers. Examples: 4 + 3i, i, etc.

Other Notations
Symbol Symbol Name
{} set
A∪B A union B i.e., Sum of
A∩B A intersection B i.e., similarity/common feature
A⊆B A is subset of B
A⊄B A is not subset B
A⊂B proper subset / strict subset
A⊃B proper superset / strict superset
A⊇B superset
A⊅B not superset
Ø empty set
P (C) power set
A=B Equal set
Ac Complement of A
a∈B a element of B
x∉A x not element of A

Set Operations
The four important set operations that are widely used are:
 Union of sets
 Intersection of sets
 Complement of sets
 Difference of sets

Fundamental Properties of Set operations:

Like addition and multiplication operation in algebra, the operations such as union and intersection in
set theory obeys the properties of associativity and commutativity. Also, the intersection of sets
distributes over the union of sets.
Sets are used to describe one of the most important concepts in mathematics i.e. functions. Everything
that you observe around you, is achieved with mathematical models which are formulated, interpreted
and solved by functions.

Solved Examples
Q.1: If U = {a, b, c, d, e, f}, X = {a, b, c}, Y = {c, d, e, f}, Z = {c, d, e}.
Find (X ∩ Y) ∪ (X ∩ Z).
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Solution: X ∩ Y = {a, b, c} ∩ {c, d, e, f}
X∩Y={c}
X ∩ Z = { a, b, c } ∩ { c, d, e }
X∩Z={c}
∴ (X ∩ Y) ∪ (X ∩ Z) = { c }

Q.2: Give examples of finite sets.

Solution: The examples of finite sets are:

Set of months in a year
Set of days in a week
Set of natural numbers less than 20
Set of integers greater than -2 and less than 3

Q.3: If U = {2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11}, A = {3, 5, 7, 9, 11} and B = {7, 8, 9, 10, 11}, Then
find (A – B)′.

Solution: A – B is a set of member which belong to A but do not belong to B

∴ A – B = {3, 5, 7, 9, 11} – {7, 8, 9, 10, 11}
A – B = {3, 5}
According to formula,
(A − B)′ = U – (A – B)
∴ (A − B)′ = {2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11} – {3, 5}
(A − B)′ = {2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11}.

VENN DIAGRAM
Diagrams make mathematics easier because they help us to see the whole situation at a glance. The
English mathematician John Venn (1834−1923) began using diagrams to represent sets. His diagrams
are now called Venn diagrams.
In most problems involving sets, it is convenient to choose a larger set that contains all of the elements
in all of the sets being considered. This larger set is called the universal set, and is usually given the
symbol E. In a Venn diagram, the universal set is generally drawn as a large rectangle, and then other
sets are represented by circles within this rectangle.

For example, if V = { vowels }, we could choose the universal set as E = { letters of the alphabet } and
all the letters of the alphabet would then need to be placed somewhere within the rectangle, as shown
below.
In the Venn diagram below, the universal set is E = { 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 }, and each of these
numbers has been placed somewhere within the rectangle.

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The region inside the circle represents the set A of odd whole numbers between 0 and 10. Thus we
place the numbers 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 inside the circle, because A = { 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 }. Outside the circle we
place the other numbers 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 that are in E but not in A.

Representing subsets on a Venn diagram

When we know that S is a subset of T, we place the circle representing S inside the circle
representing T. For example, let S = { 0, 1, 2 }, and T = { 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 }. Then S is a subset of T, as
illustrated in the Venn diagram below.

Numbers such as 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 will be placed outside both circles as they are not contained in
neither S nor T.

Solving Word Problems Using Venn Diagrams

Example 1:
A group of KWASU students were asked if they had been to a Sunny Hill basketball game or a Sunny
Hill football game this year. The Venn diagram below summarizes the results.

Required:
a) Explain what each number in the diagram represents.
b) How many of the students interviewed had been to a Sunny Hill football game?
c) How many students went to exactly one of the two sports?
d) How many students went to a football game or a basketball game?

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 e) How many students were surveyed?

Example 2:
A group of students was surveyed to determine which of three types of foods they liked. Some students
liked more than one type of food and some didn’t like any of the three types of food.

Require:
a) Explain what each number in the diagram represents.
b) How many liked hamburgers?
c) How many students liked exactly one of the three types?
d) How many students liked hamburgers or pizza?
e) How many students were surveyed?

Example 3: An International School offers French, Spanish and Japanese classes. A group of
students were asked which languages they had studied while in the school.

a) Describe what each region in the Venn diagram represents.

b) How many students had studied exactly one of the three?
c) How many students studied Spanish or French?
d) How many students studied Spanish or French, but not Japanese?

Example 4: In a school of 320 students. 85 students are in the band, 200 students are on a sports
teams while 60 students participate in both activities.
Required:
a) Create a Venn diagram to model the information.
b) How many students weren’t in either?
c) How many students were in band or sports?
d) How many were in band, but not sports?

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 Assignment/Self practice
1) A group of theater majors were asked whether they were in the Drama club or Music club. The
results are summarized in the following Venn diagram.

a) Describe what each region in the Venn diagram represents.

b) How many students were in only one of the two clubs?
c) How many students were the drama club or the music club?
d) How many students were surveyed?

2) A group of students were asked what pet they had at home. The results are summarized in the
following Venn diagram.

a) Describe what each region in the Venn diagram represents.

b) How many students had exactly one of the two?
c) How many students had at least one of the two?
d) How many had cats or dogs?