Four Basic concepts

Language of Sets:
All of mathematics can be seen as the study of relations between collections of
objects by rigorous rational arguments. More often than not the patterns in those
collections and their relations are more important than the nature of the objects
themselves. The power of mathematics has a lot to do with bringing patterns to the
forefront and abstracting from the “real” nature if the objects. In Mathematics,
the collections are usually called sets and the objects are called the elements of
the set.
Sets is an unordered collection of distinct objects, which we call its elements. The
symbols ∈ is used to denote that an object is an element of a set and ∉ is not an
element of the sets.
A.1: Three ways/representation of Sets:
1. Statement form method
2. Roster or tabular form method
3. Rule or Set – builder form method
1. Statement form method
In this, well – defined description of the elements of the set is given and the
same are enclosed in curly brackets.
Example:
• The set of odd numbers less than 7 is written as:
• A set of football players with ages between 22 years to 30 years
• A set of number greater than 30 and smaller than 55
• A set of students in Class VII whose weighs are more than your weight.

2. Roster/ Tabular Method

A roster method is defined as a way to show the list of elements, separated by
commas inside of brackets.
Example:
• An example of the roster method is to write the set of numbers from 1 to 10

• Seasons as
 3. Rule method/ Set – builder method
In this, a rule, or the formula or the statement is written within the pair of
brackets so that the set is well defined. In the set builder form, all the elements of
the set, must possess a single property to become the member of that set.
In this form of representation of a set, the element of the set is described by
using a symbol or any other variable followed by a colon. The symbol: is used to
denote such that and then we write the property possessed by the elements of
the set and enclose the whole description in braces. In this, the colon stands for
and braces stand for

Example:   
• Let P is a set of counting numbers greater than 12;
The set P in set – builder from is written as:

This will be read as , “P is the set of elements is a counting number and is

greater than 12;
Note: the symbol placed between 2 x’s stands for such that
• Let A denote the set of even numbers between 6 and 14. It can be written in the
set builder form as;
or

• If . This is expressed in roster form

Let us express in set builder form.

• The set A of all odd natural numbers can be written as

•  Given :
Solution: In set A all the elements are even natural number up to 12. So, this is the
rule for the Set A
So set builder notation will be
 • the elements are natural numbers between 3 and 8. This Solution:
In set B all the elements are natural numbers between 3 and 8. This is rule
So set builder notation will be

or

•  Solved example using the three methods of representation of a set:

The set of integers lying between – 2 and 3
Statement form:
Roster form:
Set – builder form:

A.2: Kinds of Sets:

1. Null set or Empty set: The set which contains no element at all is called the
null set. This set is sometimes also called the empty set of the “void set”. It is
denoted by the symbol or { }
 Example:
Set
So, between 18 and 19 there is no element thus,
Set A is an empty set

2. Singleton sets: A set which contains only one element is known as Singleton set.

Example:

As we observe that there’s is only one element is set P

, so set P is a singleton set

•
,
As the set A contains only one element so set A is a singleton set
This set contains only one element 0 and is a singleton set.

•  Let
Here A is a singleton set because there is only one element 2 whose square is 4

3. Finite set: A set is called a finite set if it is either void set or its elements can
be listed ( counted, labeled) by natural number 1, 2, 3, … and the process of
listing terminates at a certain natural number n (say)
Example:

. Here then there are only 4 elements which satisfy the given condition; thus
Set A is a finite set.
• The set of all colors in the rainbow
 𝑃 = {2 , 3,5 , 7 , 11 ,13 ,17 … 97 }
4. Cardinal number of a finite set: the number of distinct elements in the above
definition is called the cardinal number or order of a finite set A and is denoted by
or

Example:

Therefore,

Therefore,
5. Infinite set: A set whose elements are unlimited and cannot be listed /
cannot be counted by the natural numbers 1,2,3 …,n, for any natural number is
called an infinite sets
Example:

As the number of elements in set C is infinity (uncountable), thus, set C is an

infinite set
• Set of all points in a plane
•
𝐵= { 𝑥 : 𝑥 ∈ 𝑊 , 𝑥 =2 𝑛 }
Note: All infinite sets cannot be expresses in roster form

Example: The set of real numbers since the elements of this set do not follow
any particular pattern.
 6. Universal set: A set that contains all sets in a given context is called the
universal set. The symbol for denoting a universal is It should be noted that
universal set is not unique. It may be different in problem to problem.
Example:
• If , ,
Then
Here

• If P is a set of all whole numbers and Q is a set of all negative number, then the
universal set is a set of all integers.

• If
Then can be taken as universal set.

7.Equivalent set: Two finite set A and B are equivalent if their cardinal numbers are
same i.e.
The symbol for denoting an equivalent set is .
Example:
• and are equivalent sets
,
therefore,

 8. Equal set: Two set A and Set B are said to be equal if every element of A is an
element of B and every element of B is an element of A. symbolically

Example:
• If . Then , because each element of A is an element of B and vice – versa

•   therefore, , because each element of A is an Element of B and vice – versa

It can be noted that equal sets are equivalent sets, however, not all equivalent sets are equal
sets
 9.Power set: If S is any set, then the family of all the subsets of S is called the
power set of S
The power set of A is denoted by
Symbolically,
Obviously and S are both elements of
Example:
• Let
Power set of a given set is always non- empty

 10. Joint sets: Two sets are said to be joint sets when they have at least one
common element

Example:
Let , 11
2
therefore, set X and set Y are joints sets
common element is 5 y
11. Disjoint sets: Two sets are said to be disjoint when they have no common
element. If a collection has two or more sets, the condition of disjoint will be that
the intersection of the entire collection should be empty
Example:
• Let
are disjoint.
Two sets A and set B are disjoint sets if the 1 2 4 5
intersection of two sets is a null set or an 3 6
empty set. In other words, the intersection of
a set is empty. i.e., A B

Note: there is a difference between the intersection of two sets and the difference of
two sets. In the case of disjoint, we are talking about the only intersection.
• Considering three sets: have a null intersection but they are not disjoint. In
fact, there are no two disjoint set available in this group. Also, the empty
family of sets is pairwise disjoint.

13 11 11 12 12 14

A B C
 • and
Clearly , A and B do not have any in common and are disjoint sets
prime
composite
numbers
numbers

A B
Definition of Subset:
If A and B are two sets, and every element of set A is also an element of
set B, then A is called a subset of B and we write it as
The symbol stands for “ is a subset of” or “is contained in”
 Every set is a subset of itself, i.e.,
 Empty set is a subset of every set
 Symbol “” is used to denote “ is a subset of” or “is contained in”
 The total number of subset of a finite set containing elements is
 means A is a subset of B or a is contained in B,

 means B contains A
 Empty set is a subset of every set
 Symbol “” is used to denote “ is a subset of” or
“is contained in”
 The total number of subset of a finite set
containing elements is
 means A is a subset of B or a is contained in B,
 means B contains A
Example:
• Let , and
Here A is a subset of B,
Since, all the elements of Set A are contained in set B
But B is not the subset of A,
Since, all the elements of set B are not contained in set A
Notes: If A
Every set is a subset of itself
• The set N of natural numbers is a subset of
the set Z of integers, and we write
• Let ;
Here , Hence. We can say A = B
• Let ,
and also
[⊄ denotes ‘not a subset of’]
• How many number of subsets containing three elements can be formed from
the set
Solution:
Number of elements in the set = 10
Number of element in the subset = 3

Therefore , the number of subsets containing 3 elements

𝑛!
¿ ;𝑛𝑖𝑠 𝑡h𝑒 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑡h𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑐h𝑜𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑒 𝑐h𝑜𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑡h𝑒𝑚
( 𝑐 −𝑟 ) !𝑟 !
10 ! 10 ! 10 ∗ 9 ∗ 8 ∗7 ! 10 ∗ 9 ∗ 8
¿ ¿ ¿
( 10 − 3 ) ! 3 ! 7 ! 3 ! 3 ∗2 ∗ 1∗ 7 !
¿
3 ∗2 ∗ 1
¿ 5 ∗3 ∗ 8=120

Therefore, the umber of possible subsets containing 3 elements from the set
Proper Subset:
If A and B are two sets, then A is called the proper subset of B if but i.e. , . The
symbol “is used to denote proper subset. Symbolically, we write .

Example:
, here

We observe that, all the elements of A are present in B but the element “5” of B is
not present in A. So, we say that A is a proper subset of B
Symbolically, we write it as

Notes: No set is a proper subset of itself

Null set or proper subset of every set
• , and
Here a is a proper subset of B as all the elements of set A are in Set B and
Notes: No set is a proper subset of itself empty set is a proper subset of every
set

Number of Subsets of a given Set:

If a set contains elements, then the number of subsets of the set is

Number of Proper Subset of the Set:

If a set contains elements, then the number of proper subsets of the set is
If the proper subsets of the set is
number of proper subsets of A are 3 =

In general, number of proper subsets of a given set , where Is the number of

elements.
Example:
• If , then write all the possible subsets of A. find their numbers

Solution:
The subset of A containing no elements. { }
The subset of A containing one elements.
The subset of A containing two elements.
The subset of A containing three elements.
Therefore, all possible subsets of A is 8 which is equal to
Proper subsets are =
Number of proper subsets are 7
• If the number of elements in a set is 2, find the number of subsets and
proper subsets.
Solution:
Number of elements is a set = 2
Then, number of subsets =
Also, the number of proper subsets =

𝐼𝑓 𝐴= {1,2,3,4,5 }
Then the number of proper subsets =
And the power set of A =

Improper Subset:
A subset which contains all the elements of the original set is called
improper subset. Basically, the improper set includes the null set and the
original set itself. It is denoted by
Example:
• Set ,
Then the subsets of P are
Where are the proper subsets and
are the improper subsets.
Therefore, we can write and
Assignment #4: Template #7
Do it a long bond paper
In every definition of terms, give your own examples
1. Statement form method 2. Singleton sets:
3. Rule or Set – builder form method 4. Null set or Empty set
5. Roster or tabular form method 6. Finite set:
7. Cardinal number of a finite set: 8. Infinite set:
9. Universal set: 10. Equivalent set:
11. Equal set: 12. Power set:
13. Joint sets: 14. Disjoint sets:
15. Subset: 16. Proper Subset:
17. Improper Subset:

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Andy Stern
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