Chapter 1 - SETS

HSSC Exams
1. Set
A set is simply a well-defined class or collection of things or objects which have
some common property.

First we specify the common property among the things/objects and then we
gather up all those things that have the common property.

For example,

(i) The names of your friends: Amit, Monika, Ankit, Zoya, Sandeep and so on.

(ii) The names of days: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,

Friday, Saturday.

 So set is just things grouped together with a certain common property.

 When we define a set, all we have to specify is a common characteristic.
 Order of a set: The number of elements in a set is the order of the set.

1.1 Notation of Sets

Sets are usually denoted by capital letters A, B, C, … and its elements are denoted
by small letters a, b, c, ...

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

Notation for the two previous examples:
(i) {amit, monika, ankit, zoya, sandeep, …}
(ii) {sunday, monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, friday, saturday}

 Sometimes the "..." can be used in the middle to save writing long lists:
Example: the set of first 50 positive even numbers:
{2, 4, 6, ..., 96, 98, 100}
 Sometimes the "..." can be used on both sides to save writing long lists:
Example: Set of odd numbers:
{..., −3, −1, 1, 3, ...}

1.1.1 Roster or Tabular Form:

In this method, a set is described by listing elements, separated by commas, within
brackets.
Example: A set of vowels of English alphabet may be described as
A = {a, e, i, o, u}

1.1.2 Set Builder Form:

We can also build a set by describing what is in it. In this method, a set is described
by a characterizing property of its elements.

Example:

Set 𝐒 = {𝟎, 𝟏, 𝟖, 𝟐𝟕, 𝟔𝟒, … . } can also be written as 𝐒 = { 𝐱 𝟑 ∶ 𝐱 ∈ 𝐍}

 Some people use "|" instead of ":", so they write 𝐒 = {𝐱 𝟑 | 𝐱 ∈ 𝐍}

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1.2 Types of Sets

 Null Set (𝛟): The set which contains no element at all is called the null set
(empty set or void set) and it is denoted by the symbol ′𝛟′ or ′{ }′.
Example: Let P = {d : d > 7, d is the number of days in a week} is a null set
because there are only 7 days in a week.
 The set {𝝓} is not a null set. It is a set containing one element 𝝓.

 Finite Set and Infinite Set: A set which contains finite number of elements is
called a finite set, otherwise it is an infinite set (contains infinite number of
elements).
 Set A = {1, 2, 3, ..., 63, 64} is a finite set of order 64.
 Set B = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, …} is an infinite set.

 Equal Sets: Two sets A and B are said to be equal sets if and only if every
element of A is an element of B and also every element of B is an element of A.
i.e. A = B, if x ∈ A ⟺ x ∈ B.
 Sets A = {2, 4, 6, 8} and B = {8, 4, 6, 2} are equal sets because every
element of B is an element of A and vice-versa.

 Equivalent Sets: These sets have the same number of elements (same order)
but not exactly the same elements.
 Sets A = {2, 4, 6, 8} and B = {1, 2, 3, 4} are equivalent sets because both
the sets have same order.
 All equal sets are equivalent sets but all equivalent sets are not equal sets.

 Universal Set (U): A set that contains everything that is relevant to our question.
 A set that contains all sets in a given context is called universal set.

Set U = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10} is the universal set of the sets A = {2, 3, 4,

5}, B= {1, 6, 7} and C = {8, 9, 10}.

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 Subset: Let A and B be two sets, If every element of 𝐀 is an element of 𝐁, then

𝐀 is called a subset of 𝐁, i.e. 𝐀 ⊂ 𝐁.

A = {3, 4, 5, 6} and B = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7}

Therefore, set A is the subset of set B i.e. 𝐀 ⊂ 𝐁.

 The null set 𝛟 is a subset of every set and every set is a subset of itself i.e.
𝛟 ⊂ 𝐀 and 𝐀 ⊆ 𝐀 for every set 𝐀.
 Two sets 𝐀 and 𝐁 are comparable, if one of them is a subset of the other
i.e. either 𝐀 ⊆ 𝐁 or 𝐁 ⊆ 𝐀.

 Power Set [P(S)]: If S is any set, then the collection of all the subsets of 𝐒 is
called the power set.
 Power set of a given set is always non-empty.
 If S has 𝒏 elements, then S(A) has 𝟐𝒏 elements.

Let set S = {1,2,3} then subset of S are 𝛟, {1}, {2}, {3}, {1,2}, {2,3}, {1,3} and {1,2,3}.

Therefore, Power set of S = P(S) = { 𝛟, {1}, {2}, {3}, {1,2}, {2,3}, {1,3}, {1,2,3}}

1.3 Venn Diagram

The combination of rectangles and circles is called Venn Euler Diagram or Venn
Diagram. In Venn diagram, the universal set is represented by a rectangular region
and a set is represented by circle on some closed geometrical figure.

Where, 𝐀 is the set and 𝐔 is the universal set.

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1.3.1 Operations on Sets:

 Consider you have 8 friends, then the set of your friends is

{anky, parul, surya, annie, suman, monu, anil, Kanchan}
 Each friend is an "element" or "member" of the set.

Now, let’s assume that Anky, Surya, Kanchan, Anil, Monu and Suman drink Beer:
B = {anky, surya, kanchan, anil, monu, suman}

and Parul, Annie, Monu, Kanchan and Suman drink Soda:

S = {parul, annie, monu, kanchan, suman}

 So Monu, Kanchan and Suman drink both Beer and Soda.

 Union (∪): The union of sets B and S is the set of all your friends who drink beer
OR soda.

𝐁 ∪ 𝐒 = {𝐱 ∶ 𝐱 ∈ 𝐁 𝐨𝐫 𝐱 ∈ 𝐒}

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𝐁 ∪ 𝐒 = {𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐲, 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐮𝐥, 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐲𝐚, 𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐞, 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧, 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐮, 𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐥, 𝐊𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧}

 Intersection (∩): The intersection of sets B and S is the set of all your friends
who drink both beer AND soda.

𝐁 ∩ 𝐒 = {𝐱 ∶ 𝐱 ∈ 𝐁 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐱 ∈ 𝐒}.

𝐁 ∩ 𝐒 = { 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧, 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐮, 𝐊𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧}

 Complement (𝐀′): Let U be the universal set and A be a set such that 𝐀 ⊂ 𝐔.
Then, complement of 𝐀′ with respect to 𝐔 is denoted by 𝐀′ or 𝐀𝟎 or 𝐂(𝐀) or
𝐔 − 𝐀.
 It is defined as the set of all those element of 𝑼 which are not in 𝑨.

 Difference (A − B): The difference of set A and set B i.e. A − B, is the set of all
those elements of A which do not belong to B.

𝐀 − 𝐁 = {𝐱 ∶ 𝐱 ∈ 𝐀 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐱 ∉ 𝐁}

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𝐁 − 𝐀 = {𝐱 ∈ 𝐁 ∶ 𝐱 ∉ 𝐀}

 Symmetric Difference: The symmetric difference of sets 𝐀 and 𝐁 is the set

(𝐀 − 𝐁) ∪ (𝐁 − 𝐀) and is denoted by 𝐀 ∆ 𝐁.

𝐀 ∆ 𝐁 = (𝐀 − 𝐁) ∪ (𝐁 − 𝐀)

 Examples: Operations on Sets

If A = {2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17} and B = {11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31}, then

 𝐀 ∪ 𝐁 = {𝟐, 𝟑, 𝟓, 𝟕, 𝟏𝟏, 𝟏𝟑, 𝟏𝟕, 𝟏𝟗, 𝟐𝟑, 𝟐𝟗, 𝟑𝟏}

 𝐀 ∩ 𝐁 = {𝟏𝟏, 𝟏𝟑, 𝟏𝟕}
 𝐀 = 𝐔 − 𝐀 = {𝟏𝟗, 𝟐𝟑, 𝟐𝟗, 𝟑𝟏}
 𝐀 − 𝐁 = {𝟐, 𝟑, 𝟓, 𝟕} and 𝐁 − 𝐀 = {𝟏𝟗, 𝟐𝟑, 𝟐𝟗, 𝟑𝟏}
 𝐀 ∆ 𝐁 = (𝐀 − 𝐁) ∪ (𝐁 − 𝐀) = {𝟐, 𝟑, 𝟓, 𝟕, 𝟏𝟗, 𝟐𝟑, 𝟐𝟗, 𝟑𝟏}

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1.4 Law of Algebra of Sets

If A, B and C are any three sets, then

 Indempotent Laws:
(i) 𝐀 ∪𝐀=𝐀
(ii) 𝐀∩𝐀=𝐀

 Identify Laws:
(i) 𝐀∪𝛟=𝐀
(ii) 𝐀∩𝐔=𝐀

 Distributive Laws:
(i) 𝐀 ∪ (𝐁 ∩ 𝐂) = (𝐀 ∪ 𝐁) ∩ (𝐀 ∪ 𝐂)
(ii) 𝐀 ∩ (𝐁 ∪ 𝐂) = (𝐀 ∩ 𝐁) ∪ (𝐀 ∩ 𝐂)

 De-Morgan’s Laws:
(i) (𝐀 ∪ 𝐁) = 𝐀 ∩ 𝐁
(ii) (𝐀 ∩ 𝐁) = 𝐀 ∪ 𝐁
(iii) 𝐀 − (𝐁 ∩ 𝐂) = (𝐀 − 𝐁) ∪ (𝐀 − 𝐂)
(iv) 𝐀 − (𝐁 ∪ 𝐂) = (𝐀 − 𝐁) ∩ (𝐀 − 𝐂)

 Associative Laws:
(i) (𝐀 ∪ 𝐁) ∪ 𝐂 = 𝐀 ∪ (𝐁 ∪ 𝐂)
(ii) (𝐀 ∩ (𝐁 ∩ 𝐂) = (𝐀 ∩ 𝐁) ∩ 𝐂

1.5 Important Results

1. 𝐀 − 𝐁 = 𝐀 ∩ 𝐁

2. 𝐁 − 𝐀 = 𝐁 ∩ 𝐀

3. 𝐀 − 𝐁 = 𝐀 ⟺ 𝐀 ∩ 𝐁 = 𝛟

4. (𝐀 − 𝐁) ∪ 𝐁 = 𝐀 ∪ 𝐁

5. (𝐀 − 𝐁) ∩ 𝐁 = 𝛟

6. 𝐀 ⊆ 𝐁 ⇔ 𝐁 ⊆ 𝐀
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7. (𝐀 − 𝐁) ∪ (𝐁 − 𝐀) = (𝐀 ∪ 𝐁) − (𝐀 ∩ 𝐁)

8. 𝐀 ∩ (𝐁 − 𝐂) = (𝐀 ∩ 𝐁) − (𝐀 ∩ 𝐂)

9. 𝐀 ∩ (𝐁 ∆ 𝐂) = (𝐀 ∩ 𝐁) ∆ (𝐀 ∩ 𝐂)

10. 𝐧(𝐀 ∪ 𝐁) = 𝐧(𝐀) + 𝐧(𝐁) − 𝐧(𝐀 ∩ 𝐁)

11. 𝐧(𝐀 ∪ 𝐁) = 𝐧(𝐀) + 𝐧(𝐁) ⇔ 𝐀 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐁 are disjoint non-empty sets.

12. 𝐧(𝐀 − 𝐁) = 𝐧(𝐀) − 𝐧(𝐀 ∩ 𝐁)

13. 𝐧(𝐀 ∆ 𝐁) = 𝐧(𝐀) + 𝐧(𝐁) − 𝟐 𝐧(𝐀 ∩ 𝐁)

14. 𝐧(𝐀 ∪ 𝐁 ∪ 𝐂) = 𝐧(𝐀) + 𝐧(𝐁) + 𝐧(𝐂) − 𝐧(𝐀 ∩ 𝐁) − 𝐧(𝐁 ∩ 𝐂) − 𝐧(𝐀 ∩ 𝐂)

+ 𝐧(𝐀 ∩ 𝐁 ∩ 𝐂)

15. 𝐧(𝐀 ∪ 𝐁 ) = 𝐧(𝐀 ∩ 𝐁) = 𝐧(𝐔) − 𝐧(𝐀 ∩ 𝐁)

16. 𝐧(𝐀 ∩ 𝐁 ) = 𝐧(𝐀 ∪ 𝐁) = 𝐧(𝐔) − 𝐧(𝐀 ∪ 𝐁)

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