CHAPTE

2
Sets

Copyright © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Section 2.2 Complements, Subsets,
and Venn Diagrams

Copyright © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

The Universal Set and the
Complement of a Set

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The Universal Set and the Complement of a Set

The set of all elements that are being considered is called

the universal set.

We will use the letter U to denote the universal set.

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Example 1 – Find the Complement of a Set

Let U = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10}, S = {2, 4, 6, 7}, and

T = {x | x < 10 and x  the odd counting numbers}. Find
a. S  b. T 

Solution:
a. The elements of the universal set are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,

8, 9, and 10. From these elements we wish to exclude

the elements of S, which are 2, 4, 6, and 7.

Therefore

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Example 1 – Solution cont’d

b. T = {1, 3, 5, 7, 9}. Excluding the elements of T from U

gives us

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The Universal Set and the Complement of a Set

There are two fundamental results concerning the universal

set and the empty set.

Because the universal set contains all elements under

consideration, the complement of the universal set is the
empty set.

Conversely, the complement of the empty set is the

universal set, because the empty set has no elements and
the universal set contains all the elements under
consideration.

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The Universal Set and the Complement of a Set

Using mathematical notation, we state these fundamental

results as follows:

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Subsets

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Subsets
Consider the set of letters in the alphabet and the set of
vowels {a, e, i, o, u}. Every element of the set of vowels is
an element of the set of letters in the alphabet.

The set of vowels is said to be a subset of the set of letters

in the alphabet. We will often find it useful to examine
subsets of a given set.

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Subsets
Here are two fundamental subset relationships.

The notation A B is used to denote that A is not a subset

of B. To show that A is not a subset of B, it is necessary to
find at least one element of A that is not an element of B.

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Example 2 – Apply the Definition of a Subset

Determine whether each statement is true or false.

a. {5, 10, 15, 20}  {0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30}
b. W  N
c. {2, 4, 6}  {2, 4, 6}
d. ∅  {1, 2, 3}

Solution:
a. True; every element of the first set is an element of the
second set.
b. False; 0 is a whole number, but 0 is not a natural
number.

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Example 2 – Solution cont’d

c. True; every set is a subset of itself.

d. True; the empty set is a subset of every set.

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Subsets
The English logician John Venn (1834–1923) developed
diagrams, which we now refer to as Venn diagrams, that
can be used to illustrate sets and relationships between
sets.

A Venn diagram

In a Venn diagram, the universal set is represented by a

rectangular region and subsets of the universal set are
generally represented by oval or circular regions drawn
inside the rectangle.
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Subsets
The Venn diagram below shows a universal set and one of
its subsets, labeled as set A.

A Venn diagram

The size of the circle is not a concern.

The region outside of the circle, but inside of the rectangle,

represents the set A . 15
Proper Subsets of a Set

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Proper Subsets of a Set

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Example 3 – Proper Subsets
For each of the following, determine whether the first set is a
proper subset of the second set.
a. {a, e, i, o, u}, {e, i, o, u, a} b. N, I

Solution:
a. Because the sets are equal, the first set is not a proper
subset of the second set.

b. Every natural number is an integer, so the set of natural

numbers is a subset of the set of integers. The set of
integers contains elements that are not natural numbers,
such as –3. Thus the set of natural numbers is a proper
subset of the set of integers.
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Example 4 – List All the Subsets of a Set

Set C shows the four condiments that a hot dog stand

offers on its hot dogs.
C = {mustard, ketchup, onions, relish}
List all the subsets of C.

Solution:
An organized list shows the following subsets.

{}

{mustard}, {ketchup}, {onions}, {relish}

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Example 4 – Solution cont’d

{mustard, ketchup}, {mustard, onions},

{mustard, relish}, {ketchup, onions},
{ketchup, relish}, {onions, relish}

{mustard, ketchup, onions},

{mustard, ketchup, relish},
{mustard, onions, relish},
{ketchup, onions, relish}

{mustard, ketchup, onion, relish}

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Number of Subsets of a Set

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Number of Subsets of a Set
In some applications we need to determine the number of
subsets of a set without making an actual list of all the
subsets. We know that the empty set has 0 elements and
the only subset of the empty set is the empty set. A set with
1 element has 2 subsets, namely, itself and the empty set.
It is easy to show that a set with 2 elements has 4 subsets
and a set with 3 elements has 8 subsets.

In Example 4 we found that a set with 4 elements has 16

subsets. The following diagram summarizes the above
results.

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Number of Subsets of a Set
It appears that if the number of elements in a set is
increased by 1, then the number of subsets of the set is
doubled. Thus we suspect that a set with 5 elements will
have 2  16 = 32 subsets and a set with 6 elements will
have 2  32 = 64 subsets.

Also note that each of the numbers in the bottom row of the
diagram is equal to 2n.

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Number of Subsets of a Set
These observations lend support for the following theorem.

Consider set A with n elements. All of the 2n subsets of A

are proper subsets of A, except for A itself. Thus the
number of proper subsets of A is 2n – 1.

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Number of Subsets of a Set
In Example 5, we apply the formula for the number of
subsets of a set to determine the number of different
variations of pizzas that a restaurant can serve.

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Example 5 – Pizza Variations
A restaurant sells pizzas for which you can choose from
seven toppings.
a. How many different variations of pizzas can the
restaurant serve?

b. What is the minimum number of toppings the restaurant

must provide if it wishes to advertise that it offers over
1000 variations of its pizzas?

Solution:
a. The restaurant can serve a pizza with no topping, one
topping, two toppings, three toppings, and so forth, up to
all seven toppings.
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Example 5 – Solution cont’d

Let T be the set consisting of the seven toppings.

The elements in each subset of T describe exactly one of

the variations of toppings that the restaurant can serve.

Consequently, the number of different variations of pizzas

that the restaurant can serve is the same as the number of
subsets of T.

Thus the restaurant can serve 27 = 128 different variations

of its pizzas.

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Example 5 – Solution cont’d

b. Use the method of guessing and checking to find the

smallest natural number n for which 2n > 1000.

The restaurant must provide a minimum of 10 toppings if

it wishes to offer over 1000 variations of its pizzas.

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