Math in Our World

Section 2-1

Introduction to Set Theory

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 Learning Objectives
Define set.
Write sets three different ways.
Define the empty set.
Find the cardinality of a set.
Classify sets as finite or infinite.
Decide if two sets are equal or equivalent.

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 Sets
A set is a collection of objects.

In our study of sets, we’ll want to restrict our

attention to sets that are well-defined. A set is
well-defined if for any given object, we can
objectively decide whether it is or is not in the set.

Each object in a set is called an element or a

member of the set.

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 Roster Method
The elements of the set are listed between braces,
with commas between the elements.
The order in which we list elements isn’t important.

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EXAMPLE 1 Writing a Set Using the Roster
Method (1 of 2)
Write the set of months of the year that begin with
the letter M. Is this set well-defined? Why or why
not?

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EXAMPLE 1 Writing a Set Using the Roster
Method (2 of 2)
SOLUTION
The months that begin with M are March and May. So, the
answer can be written in set notation as

M = {March, May}
Each element in the set is listed within braces and is
separated by a comma.
This is a well-defined set, because every month either
begins with M or it does not: there’s no opinions involved.
However, if you really wanted to nitpick, you could claim
that this set is not well-defined because it didn’t specify a
language for the names of months.
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 Natural Numbers
Sets are often labeled with capital letters.
The Set of Natural Numbers (Counting Numbers)
is defined as N = {1, 2, 3, 4 …}.
(When we are designating sets, the three dots, or
ellipsis, mean that the list of elements continues
indefinitely in the same pattern.)
The Set of Even Natural Numbers is
E = {2, 4, 6, 8, …}
The Set of Odd Natural Numbers is
O = {1, 3, 5, 7, …}
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EXAMPLE 2 Writing Sets Using the Roster
Method (1 of 2)
Use the roster method to do the following:
(a) Write the set of natural numbers less than 6.
(b) Write the set of odd natural numbers greater
than 4.
(c) Can you think of another way to describe each
set in words?

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EXAMPLE 2 Writing Sets Using the Roster
Method (2 of 2)
SOLUTION
(a) {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}
(b) {5, 7, 9, 11, . . .}
(c) The first set could be described as the set of natural
numbers less than or equal to 5, or between 0 and 6.
The second set could be described as the set of odd
natural numbers greater than 3, or greater than or equal
to 5.

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 Set Notation
The symbol  is used to show that an object is a
member or element of a set. For example, if A is
the set of days of the week, we could write
Monday  A, and read this as “Monday is an
element of set A.” Likewise, we could write
Friday  A.
When an object is not a member of a set, we use
the symbol . Since “Icecreamday” is not a day of
the week, we can write Icecreamday  A, and read
this as “Icecreamday is not an element of A.”

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EXAMPLE 3 Understanding Set Notation
(1 of 2)
Decide whether each statement is true or false.
(a) Oregon  A, where A is the set of states west
of the Mississippi River.
(b) 27  {1, 5, 9, 13, 17, . . .}
(c) z  {v, w, x, y, z}

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EXAMPLE 3 Understanding Set Notation
(2 of 2)
SOLUTION
(a) Oregon is west of the Mississippi, so Oregon is an
element of A. The statement is true.
(b) The pattern shows that each element is 4 more than the
previous element. So the next three elements are 21,
25, and 29; this shows that 27 is not in the set. The
statement is false.
(c) The letter z is an element of the set, so the statement is
false.

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 Three Common Ways to Designate a Set
1. List or Roster Method
2. Descriptive Method
3. Set-Builder Notation

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EXAMPLE 4 Describing a Set Using the
Descriptive Method
Use the descriptive method to describe the set B
containing 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 in two different
ways.

SOLUTION
All of the elements in the set are even natural numbers,
and all are less than 14, so B is the set of even natural
numbers less than 14. There are plenty of other ways the
set could be described. Another is the set of natural
numbers between 1 and 15 that are divisible by 2.

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 Variable
The third (and fanciest) method of designating a
set is set-builder notation, and this method uses
variables.
A variable is a symbol (usually a letter) that can
represent different elements of a set.

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 Set-Builder Notation
Set-builder notation uses a variable, braces, and a
vertical bar | that is read as “such that.”
For example, the set {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6} can be
written in set-builder notation as
{ x | x ∈ N and x < 7 }
This is read as “the set of elements x such that x is
a natural number and x is less than 7.” We can use
any letter or symbol for the variable, but it’s
common to use x.

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EXAMPLE 5 Writing a Set Using
Set-Builder Notation (1 of 2)
Use set-builder notation to designate each set,
then write how your answer would be read aloud.
(a) The set R contains the elements 2, 4, and 6.
(b) The set W contains the elements red, yellow,
and blue.

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EXAMPLE 5 Writing a Set Using
Set-Builder Notation (2 of 2)
SOLUTION
(a) R = {x │ x  E and x  7}
The set of all x such that x is an even natural number
and x is less than 7.
(b) W = {x │ x is a primary color}
The set of all x such that x is a primary color.

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EXAMPLE 6 Using Different Set Notations
(1 of 2)
Designate the set S with elements
32, 33, 34, 35, … using
(a) The roster method.
(b) The descriptive method.
(c) Set-builder notation.

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EXAMPLE 6 Using Different Set Notations
(2 of 2)
SOLUTION
(a) {32, 33, 34, 35, . . .}
(b) The set S is the set of natural numbers greater than 31.
(c) {x │ x  N and x  31}

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EXAMPLE 7 Writing a Set Using an Ellipsis

Using the roster method, write the set containing

all even natural numbers between 99 and 201.

SOLUTION
{100, 102, 104, . . . , 198, 200}
If a set contains many elements, we can again use an
ellipsis to represent the missing elements.

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 Empty Set or Null Set
A set with no elements is called an empty set or
null set. The symbols used to represent the null
set are { } or .

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EXAMPLE 8 Identifying Empty Sets (1 of 2)

Which of the following sets are empty?

(a) {}
(b) {x | x is a natural number between 1 and 2}

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EXAMPLE 8 Identifying Empty Sets (2 of 2)

SOLUTION
(a) This one’s tricky. Each of { } and Ø represent the empty
set, but {Ø} is the set containing the empty set, which has
one element. It’s a goofy set, mind you, but it does have
one element, namely the empty set.
(b) This set is empty because there are no natural numbers
between 1 and 2.

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 Cardinal Number
The cardinal number of a set is the number of
elements in the set. For a set A the symbol for the
cardinality is n(A), which is read as “n of A.”

For example, the set R = {2, 4, 6, 8, 10} has a

cardinal number of 5 since it has 5 elements. This
could also be stated by saying the cardinality of
set R is 5.

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EXAMPLE 9 Finding the Cardinality of a Set
(1 of 2)
Find the cardinal number of each set.
(a) A = {5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30}
(b) B = {x │ x  N and x  16}
(c) C = {16}
(d) 

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EXAMPLE 9 Finding the Cardinality of a Set
(2 of 2)
SOLUTION
(a) n(A) = 6 since set A has 6 elements
(b) B is the set {1, 2, 3, 4, …, 14, 15}, which has 15
elements. So n(B) = 15.
(c) n(C) = 1 since set C has 1 element
(d) n() = 0 since there are no elements in an empty set

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 Finite and Infinite Sets
A set is called finite if it has no elements, or has
cardinality that is a natural number. A set that is
not finite is called an infinite set.

The set {p, q, r, s} is a finite set since it has four

members: p, q, r, and s. The set {10, 20, 30, . . .} is
an infinite set since it has an unlimited number of
elements: the natural numbers that are multiples of
10.

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EXAMPLE 10 Classifying Sets as
Finite or Infinite (1 of 2)
Classify each set as finite or infinite.
(a) {x │ x  N and x  100}
(b) Set R is the set of letters used to make Roman
numerals.
(c) {100, 102, 104, 106, . . .}
(d) Set M is the set of people in your immediate
family.
(e) Set S is the set of songs that can be written.

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EXAMPLE 10 Classifying Sets as
Finite or Infinite (2 of 2)
SOLUTION
(a) The set is finite since there are 99 natural numbers that
are less than 100.
(b) The set is finite since the letters used are C, D, I, L, M,
V, and X.
(c) The set is infinite since it consists of an unlimited
number of elements.
(d) The set is finite since there is a specific number of
people in your immediate family.
(e) The set is infinite because an unlimited number of
songs can be written.

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 Equal and Equivalent Sets
Two sets A and B are equal (written A = B) if they
have exactly the same members or elements. Two
finite sets A and B are said to be equivalent
(written A  B) if they have the same number of
elements: that is, n(A) = n(B).

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EXAMPLE 11 Deciding If Sets Are
Equal or Equivalent (1 of 2)
State whether each pair of sets is equal,
equivalent, or neither.
(a) {p, q, r, s}; {a, b, c, d}
(b) {8, 10, 12}; {12, 8, 10}
(c) {213}; {2, 1, 3}
(d) {1, 2, 10, 20}; {2, 1, 20, 11}
(e) {even natural numbers less than 10};
{2, 4, 6, 8}

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EXAMPLE 11 Deciding If Sets Are
Equal or Equivalent (2 of 2)
SOLUTION
(a) Equivalent
(b) Equal and equivalent
(c) Neither
(d) Equivalent
(e) Equal and equivalent

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 One-to-One Correspondence
Two sets have a one-to-one correspondence of
elements if each element in the first set can be
paired with exactly one element of the second set
and each element of the second set can be paired
with exactly one element of the first set.

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EXAMPLE 12 Putting Sets in One-to-One
Correspondence (1 of 3)
Show that …
(a) the sets {8,16, 24, 32} and {s, t, u, v} have a
one-to-one correspondence and
(b) the sets {x, y, z} and {5, 10} do not have a one-
to-one correspondence.
Then draw a conclusion about what one-to-one
correspondence has to do with equivalence of
sets.

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EXAMPLE 12 Putting Sets in One-to-One
Correspondence (2 of 3)
SOLUTION
(a) We need to demonstrate that each element of one set
can be paired with one and only one element of the second
set. One possible way to show a one-to-one
correspondence is this:
{8, 16, 24, 32}
{ s, t, u, v }

(b) The elements of the sets {x, y, z} and {5, 10} can’t be
put in one-to-one correspondence. No matter how we try,
there will be an element in the first set that doesn’t
correspond to any element in the second set.
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EXAMPLE 12 Putting Sets in One-to-One
Correspondence (3 of 3)
SOLUTION continued
What can we conclude? The sets that could be put into
one-to-one correspondence had the same number of
elements, while the two that could not had a different
number of elements. Conclusion? Two sets are equivalent
exactly when they can be put into one-to-one
correspondence.

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 Correspondence and Equivalent Sets
Two sets are
• Equivalent if you can put their elements in one-
to-one correspondence.
• Not equivalent if you cannot put their elements in
one-to-one correspondence.

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