INTRODUCTION TO SETS

What is a Set?

➢ A Set is a collection of things.

For example, the items you wear: socks, shoes, hat, shirt, jacket, pants, and so on. This
is known as a set.
➢ The element or member of a set is listed separated by a comma, and then put curly
brackets around the whole thing:
e.g. {socks, shoes, hat, shirt, jacket, pants, … }

e.g. {2, 4, 6, …}
The 3 dots means goes on forever
(infinite)
Element or member

The curly brackets { } are sometimes called "set brackets" or "braces".

Notice these examples:

{socks, shoes, hat, shirt, jacket, pants, ...}

{socks, shoes, hat, shirt, jacket, pants}

the first example has the "..." (three dots together).

The three dots ... are called an ellipsis, and mean "continue on".

So:

• The first set {socks, shoes, hat, shirt, jacket, pants, ...} we call an infinite set,
• the second set {socks, shoes, hat, shirt, jacket, pants} we call a finite set.

But sometimes the "..." can be used in the middle to save writing long lists:

Example: the set of letters: {a, b, c, ..., x, y, z} In this case it is a finite set
 INTRODUCTION TO SETS
➢ To represent the Set, the standard is to use a Capital Letters and lowercase letters to
represent an element in that set.

e.g. A = {a, b, c}, a is an element of set A

a∈A

A = {1, 2, 3}, 1 is an element of set A

1 ∈ A, but 5 is not an element of set A

❖ Georg Cantor (Georg Ferdinand Ludwig Philipp Cantor) - was a Russian-born

mathematician who can be considered as the founder of set theory and introduced the
concept of infinite numbers with his discovery of cardinal numbers.

Types of Common Number:

➢ N = Natural Numbers
o Contains all counting number which start from 1.
o e.g. N = {1, 2, 3, …}

➢ W = Whole Numbers
o Collection of zero and natural number
o e.g. W = {0, 1, 2, 3, …}

➢ Z = Integers
o The collective result of whole numbers and negative natural numbers.
o

… -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 …
0

▪ e.g. {..., -3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, ...}

▪ .e.g. { −16, −3, 0, 1, 98}

o Z+: Positive integers. e.g. { 1, 2, 3, 4, ... }

 INTRODUCTION TO SETS
-
o Z : Negative integers e.g. { ..., −4, −3, −2, −1 }
o Z is from the German "Zahlen" meaning numbers

➢ Q = Rational numbers
o A rational number is a number that can be in a form of p/q or a fraction, where p
and q are integers and q is not equal to zero.
o e.g. {1/2, 5/4, -12/6 }
o Q is from the Italian word "Quoziente" meaning Quotient, the result of dividing
one number by another.

➢ R = Real numbers
o The set of real numbers consist of different categories, such as natural and
whole numbers, integers, rational and irrational numbers.
o e.g. {1.5, π, √𝟓, 9, -4, 12/6}
 INTRODUCTION TO SETS
❖ The two Notations of a Set

1. Roster Notation - The set can be defined by listing all its elements, separated by
commas and enclosed within braces. This is called the roster method.

Examples:
V = {a, e, i, o, u}
A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, …}

Another example:
o Set A is a set of all integers.
A = {..., -3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, ...}

o Set A is a set of all even integers.

A = {..., −4, −2, 0, 2, 4, ...}

o Set A is a set of all positive even numbers.

A = {2, 4, 6, 8, 10, ...}

o Set A is a set of all negative even numbers.

A = {…, -10, -8, -6, -4, -2}

o Set A is a set of positive even numbers less than 10.

A = {2, 4, 6, 8}

2. Set Builder Notation - The set can be defined by describing the elements or describing
a set by enumerating its elements, or stating the properties that its members must
satisfy.

Examples:
A = {x є Z+ : x < 10}

It reads: "Set A is the set of all x's that are an element of positive integers, such that
(or wherein) x is less than 10".

In other words, any positive value that is less than 10

If we are going to list the elements of set A, it would be: A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9}

Notes:
• The "x" is just a place-holder, it could be anything, such as { q : q < 10 }
• Some people use "|" instead of ":", so they write { x | x < 10 }
 INTRODUCTION TO SETS
Another example:
o A = {x є R : x ≥3 }

It reads: "Set A is the set of all x's that are a member of the Real Numbers,
such that x is greater than or equal to 3"

In other words, "all Real Numbers from 3 upwards"

If we are going to list the elements of set A, it would be: A = {3, 3.1, 𝝅 , …}

o A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}, list using Set-builder notation

A = {x є N : x ≤ 6}

o A = {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, …}, list using Set-builder notation

A = {x є W : x ≥ 0}

o {k є Z : k > 𝟓}
It reads: the set of all k's that are a member of the Integers, such that k is
greater than 5"

In other words, all integers greater than 5.

{k є Z : k > 𝟓} could be listed as {6, 7, 8, …} or {k є Z : k > 𝟓} = {6, 7, 8, …}

❖ Types of Set
➢ Null set
o The null set, also referred to as the empty set, is the set that contains no
elements, denoted as { } or ∅ (curly brackets or slashed zero)
o The empty set is a subset of every set, including the empty set itself.
e.g. the set of all even numbers that are also odd.

➢ Singleton set
o a singleton set is also known as a unit set, is a set with exactly one element.
e.g. A = {0}
B = {a}

➢ Finite set
o a finite set is a set that has a finite number of elements or countable number
of members.
e.g. a set letters in the English alphabet
A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}
 INTRODUCTION TO SETS

➢ Infinite set
o If a set is not finite, it is called an infinite set because the number of elements
in that set is not countable and also, we cannot represent it in Roster form.
e.g. the set of all integers
W = {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, …}

➢ Universal set
o A universal set (usually denoted by U) is a set which has elements of all the
related sets, without any repetition of elements, including its own elements.
e.g. A = {pentagon, hexagon, octagon}
B = {hexagon, nonagon, heptagon}
A U B = {pentagon, hexagon, octagon, nonagon, heptagon}

➢ Equal set
o Two sets are equal if they have the same members.
e.g. A is the set whose members are the first four positive integers
B = {1, 2, 3, 4}
Set A and B are equal

X = {1, 2, 3, 4}
Y = {4, 2, 1, 3}
Set X and Y are equal

➢ Subset
o A set A is a subset of another set B if all elements of the set A are elements
of the set B. In other words, A is a subset of B if and only if every element of
A is in B. The subset is denoted as A⊆ B.
o Every set is a subset to itself.

e.g. A = {1, 2, 3}
B = {1, 2, 3, 4}
C = {4, 5, 6}
D = {5, 6, 4}
A is a subset of B, A ⊆ B
C is a subset of D, C ⊆ D
A⊆ A
B⊆ B
C⊆ C
D⊆ D
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➢ Proper subset
o A is a proper subset of B if and only if every element of A is also in B, and
there exists at least one element in B that is not in A. The proper subset is
denoted as A ⊂ B
e.g. A = {1, 2, 3}
B = {1, 2, 3, 4}
C = {4, 5, 6}
D = {5, 6, 4}
A is a proper subset of B, A ⊂ B
Is C a proper subset of D? No

➢ Superset
o A set A is a superset of another set B if all elements of the set B are elements
of the set A. The superset relationship is denoted as A ⊃ B
e.g. A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}
B = {1, 2, 3, 4}
A is superset of B, A⊃ B

❖ The basic Set Operations

➢ Union set
o To find the union of two given sets A and B is a set which consists of all the
elements of A and all the elements of B such that no element is repeated. The
symbol for denoting union of sets is ‘∪’.
e.g. Let set A = {2, 4, 5, 6}
B = {4, 6, 7, 8}
A ∪ B = {2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8}

➢ Intersection of sets
o The intersection of two sets A and B which are subsets of the universal set U,
is the set which consists of all those elements which are common to both A
and B. It is denoted by ‘∩’ symbol. All those elements which belong to both A
and B represent the intersection of A and B.
e.g. A = {pentagon, hexagon, octagon}
B = {hexagon, nonagon, heptagon}
C = {heptagon}
 INTRODUCTION TO SETS

A ∩ B = {hexagon}
No element is common in A and C.
Therefore, A ∩ C = ∅

Note: If the intersection of two sets gives an empty set, A ∩ C = ∅, then these sets A and C are
called as disjoint sets.

➢ Difference of sets
o Difference of two sets A and B is the set of elements which are present in A
but not in B. It is denoted as A - B.
e.g. Let A = {3, 4, 8, 9, 11, 12} and B = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}. Find A–B and B - A?
A - B = {8, 9, 11, 12}
B - A = {1, 2, 5}

➢ Complement of set
o In complement of a set, if U be the universal set and A is a subset of U, then
the complement of A is the set of all elements of U which are not the elements
of A. The complement of A is denoted as A’.
e.g. U = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7}
A = {1, 3, 7}
A’ = {2, 4, 5, 6}

Try. Let the set of natural numbers be the universal set and A is a set of even
natural numbers, then what is the complement of A?
 INTRODUCTION TO SETS
➢ Cardinal number of Set
o The number of distinct elements in a finite set is called its cardinal number.
It is denoted as A and read as ‘the number of elements of the set’.
e.g. A = {2, 4, 5, 9, 15}
A =5
▪ Set A has 5 elements, therefore the cardinal number of set is 5.

Try this:
1. Y = {5, 6, 6, 7, 11, 6, 13, 11, 8}
Y = ???
2. D = {3, 3, 5, 6, 7, 7, 9}
D = ???
3. Q = {x | x is a factor of 20}
Q = ???

➢ Power Set
o The set of all the subsets of a set. Basically, we collect all possible subsets of
a set. It is denoted by P(S).
e.g. S = {1,2}:
• The empty set {} is a subset of {1,2}
• And these are subsets: {1} and {2}
• And {1, 2} is actually a subset of {1, 2}

And altogether they make the Power Set:

P(S) = { {}, {1}, {2}, {1,2} }

Representation of subset
Subset Sequence Binary Decimal
of digit Interpretation equivalent
{} 0, 0 0, 0(2) 0(10)
{1} 0, 1 0, 1(2) 1(10)
{2} 1, 0 1, 0(2) 2(10)
{1, 2} 1, 1 1, 1(2) 3(10)

Binary – is a number expressed in the base-2 numeral system which uses only two
symbols or numbers, zero (0) and one (1). The base-2 numeral system is a positional
notation with the radix of 2. Each digit is referred to as a bit.
 INTRODUCTION TO SETS
How to determine the cardinality of Powe set?

Using this formula:

|P(s)| = 2n, where n is the number of elements

S = {1, 2} has 2 elements

|P(s)| = 22

|P(s)| = 4

This can be done using a Tree. e.g. {1, 2}

1
T F

2 2

T F T F

{1, 2} {1} {2} {}

P(s) = { {1, 2}, {1}, {2}, { } }

|P(s)| = 4

Try this: S = {a, b, c}

P(S) = ???
|P(s)| = ???