CHAPTER 3

SET THEORY
Set
• Definition: Well-defined collection of distinct
objects
• Members or Elements: part of the collection
• Roster Method: Description of a set by listing the
elements, enclosed with braces.
– Examples:
• A= {a,e,i,o,u}
• P= {red, blue, yellow}
• B= { x :x is an integer, x > 0}
• Membership examples
– “a belongs to the set of A” is written as: a  A
– “j does not belong to the set of A” is written as: j
 Vowels
 Example:

1. 3 є {1, 3, 5}
2. a  {b, c, d, e}
3. { }  {1, 2, 3}
4. { } є {1, { }, 3}
5. 3  { 1, {2, 3} }
Set of Cardinality
• Definition: The number of elements in a set or size of the
set.
• Denoted as |S| or sometimes n(S).
• Example:
a) |{a, b, c}| =3
b) |{{a, b}, c}|= 2
c) l {☺,} l = 2
Finite Sets
• Definition: A set that contains finite element.
• Example: G ={2, 3, 4, 5, 7}

Infinite Set
• Definition: A set that contains infinite element.
• Example: Z = {x: x є Z, Z are integers}={,-2,-1, 0,1,2,….}
 Ways to describe members of a set.

1. By listing all the elements, e.g. A={1,2, 4, 15}

2. By listing only enough elements to indicate the

pattern and show that the pattern continues by
using dots e.g. B = {1,2, 3, 4,……….}

3. By using a description, e.g. C = {x: x Є Z , Z are

integers}

4. By using an algebraic expression or equation, e.g.

D= {x: 2 ≤ x ≤ 7, x is an integer}
Empty Set / Null set
• Definition: A set that contains no member.
• Denoted as Ф or { }
• Example, S = {x : x is a positive integer, x2 = 3}
• Has no elements since no positive integer has the required property, S = { }
Equal Set
• Definition: Two sets, A and B, are equal if they have exactly the same
elements.
• Denoted as A = B.
A={1, 2, 3} and B= {2, 3,1}

Subset
• Notation: A ⊂B
• There are 2 types of subsets: i) proper subset ⊂
ii) improper subset ⊆
• Definition:
i) proper subset
❖ Every member of A is also a member of B but not equal to B.

ii) improper subset

❖ The whole set and the null set.

Example: Given T = {a, b, c}

improper subset : {a, b, c}
proper subset : {a}, {b}, {c}, {a, b}, {a, c}, {b, c}, { }
 Venn diagrams
…. can be used to represent sets & set
operations

…..are usually represented by using circles

inside a big rectangle (representing the
universal set)
 Subset

ℰ
A

A⊂ B
Union of Set
• Definition: Combination of all elements in A and B into a
single set.

• Example:
X = {1,2,5} and Y = {5,6,7,9}, then
X ∪ Y = {1,2,5,6,7,9}
Intersection of Sets
• Definition: Set of elements containing both of the
elements in X and Y.
• Denoted as X∩Y.
• Example:
X={2,4,6,8} and Y={2, 3, 5}
Then X∩Y={2}

Disjoint Sets
• Two sets X and Y are said to be disjoint set if X∩Y=Ф
• Example:
If X = {1,2,3,4,} and Y = {6,7,8,9}
then X ∩ Y = 
 Complement of a Set
1. All set under consideration are subset of a large set
called universal set.
2. Given a universal set ℰ , the complement of A, written
as A’ or Ā , is the set of all elements under
consideration that are not in A ( ¬ A in chapter 1:
LOGIC).
Formally, let A be a subset of universal set ℰ . The
complement of A in ℰ is
A' = ℰ - A OR A' = {x : x є ℰ and x is not in A}.
3. For any set A , we have the following laws:
i. A'' = A ; double negation
ii. A ∩ A' = Ø.
iii. A υ A' = ℰ
 Difference of a Set

• Definition: Let X and Y be 2 sets. The difference of X and Y is

written as:
X – Y = {x: x є X and x  Y }

• X – Y is the (relative) complement of Y in X or ( X only)

Example:
Given ℰ={1, 2,….,9,10}, A={1,2,3,4,5} and B = {3,4,5,6,7}

i. B – A = {6, 7}
ii. A – B = { 1,2 }
 Power Set

• Let A be a set. The power of A, written P(A) , is

the set of all subsets of A. If A is finite and has n
elements, then P(A) has 2n elements.

For example,
1. Consider A={0, 1}. The power set of A is {{}, {0},
{1}, {0, 1}}.
2. If given that B = {1,2,3,4} , then
 Cartesian Product or Cross Product

• If A and B are two sets, the cross product of A and B,

written A×B, is the set of all pairs where the first
element is a member of the set A and the second
element is a member of the set B.
• Formally, A×B = {(a, b) : a Є A, b Є B}.
• Example: Let A = {1, 2} and B = {x, y, z}. Then A×B =
{(1, x), (1, y), (1, z), (2, x), (2, y), (2, z)}.

A\B x y z
1 (1,x) (1,y) (1,z)
2 (2,x) (2,y) (2,z)
• When A and B are finite sets, the cardinality of their
product is |A×B| = |A| . |B|
 Example:
1. If X = {a,b}, Y = {c,d}
X × Y = {(a,c), (a,d), (b,c), (b,d)}
Y × X = {(c,a), (d,a), (c,b), (d,b)}
Try:
Given A={moon, sun}
B={water, air, light}.
Find A x B and B x A.
 Principle of Inclusion-Exclusion

1. Is an extension of |A∪B|=|A|+|B|-|A∩B|
2. The number of elements in the union of two
sets is the number of elements in the first
set plus the number of elements in the
second set minus the number of elements
in the set of intersection. E.g. A={1,2,3,4,5}
and B={2,4,6,8}, then;
 Example 1
• A survey on subjects being taken by 250 students at a
certain college of cavite revealed the following
information:

90 were taking mathematics

145 were taking history
88 were taking english
25 were taking mathematics and history
38 were taking history and english
59 were mathematics and english
15 were taking all the three subject
Complete a venn diagram to show this infomation.
 Example 2
• In an elementary school, students know atleast
one of the languages, French and Spanish. 125
students know French, 75 students know
Spanish and 50 of them know both French and
Spanish. How many students are there in the
school?

Solution: