Operations on Sets

Definition of operations on sets:

When two or more sets combine together to form one set under the given conditions, then operations on sets are
carried out.

The four basic operations are:

1. Union of Sets
2. Intersection of sets
3. Complement of the Set
4. Cartesian Product of sets

Union of sets:
Union of two given sets is the smallest set which contains all the elements of both the sets.
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 ‘∪’.

For example;
Let set A = {2, 4, 5, 6} and set B = {4, 6, 7, 8}
Taking every element of both the sets A and B, without repeating any element, we get a new set = {2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8}. This
new set contains all the elements of set A and all the elements of set B with no repetition of elements and is named
as union of set A and B.

The symbol used for the union of two sets is ‘∪’.

Therefore, symbolically, we write union of the two sets A and B is A∪B which means A union B.

Therefore, A∪B = {x : x ∈ A or x ∈ B}

Find the union of two given sets:

1. If A = {1, 3, 7, 5} and B = {3, 7, 8, 9}. Find union of two set A and B.

2. Let X = {a, e, i, o, u} and Y = {ф}. Find union of two given sets X and Y.

3. If set P = {2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7}, set Q = {0, 3, 6, 9, 12} and set R = {2, 4, 6, 8}.
(i) Find the union of sets P and Q

(ii) Find the union of two set P and R

(iii) Find the union of the given sets Q and R

Notes:
A and B are the subsets of A ∪ B
The union of sets is commutative, i.e., A ∪ B = B ∪ A.
The operations are performed when the sets are expressed in roster form.

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Some properties of the operation of union:
 A∪B = B∪A (Commutative law)
 A∪(B∪C) = (A∪B)∪C (Associative law)
 A∪ϕ=A (Law of identity element, is the identity of ∪)
 A∪A = A (Idempotent law)
 U∪A = U (Law of ∪) ∪ is the universal set.

Notes:
A ∪ ϕ = ϕ ∪ A = A i.e. union of any set with the empty set is always the set itself.

Intersection of sets:
Intersection of two given sets is the largest set which contains all the elements that are common to both the sets. To
find the intersection of two given sets A and B is a set which consists of all the elements which are common to both A
and B. The symbol for denoting intersection of sets is ‘∩‘.

Example:
Let set A = {2, 3, 4, 5, 6} and set B = {3, 5, 7, 9}
In this two sets, the elements 3 and 5 are common. The set containing these common elements i.e., {3, 5} is the
intersection of set A and B. The symbol used for the intersection of two sets is ‘∩‘. Therefore, symbolically, we write
intersection of the two sets A and B is A ∩ B which means A intersection B. The intersection of two sets A and B is
represented as A ∩ B = {x : x ∈ A and x ∈ B}

Find the intersection of two given sets:

1. If A = {2, 4, 6, 8, 10} and B = {1, 3, 8, 4, 6}. Find intersection of two set A and B.

2. If X = {a, b, c} and Y = {ф}. Find intersection of two given sets X and Y.

3. If set A = {4, 6, 8, 10, 12}, set B = {3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18} and set C = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10}.
(i) Find the intersection of sets A and B.

(ii) Find the intersection of two set B and C.

(iii) Find the intersection of the given sets A and C.

Notes:
A ∩ B is a subset of A and B.
Intersection of a set is commutative, i.e., A ∩ B = B ∩ A.
Operations are performed when the set is expressed in the roster form.

Some properties of the operation of intersection

A∩B = B∩A (Commutative law)
(A∩B)∩C = A∩ (B∩C) (Associative law)
ϕ∩A=ϕ (Law of ϕ)
U∩A = A (Law of ∪)
A∩A = A (Idempotent law)

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 A∩(B∪C) = (A∩B) ∪ (A∩C) (Distributive law) Here ∩ distributes over ∪
A∪(B∩C) = (AUB) ∩ (AUC) (Distributive law) Here ∪ distributes over ∩

Notes:
A ∩ ϕ = ϕ ∩ A = ϕ i.e. intersection of any set with the empty set is always the empty set.

Difference of two sets

If A and B are two sets, then their difference is given by A - B or B - A.

• If A = {2, 3, 4} and B = {4, 5, 6}

A - B means elements of A which are not the elements of B.
i.e., in the above example A - B = {2, 3}

In general, B - A = {x : x ∈ B, and x ∉ A}

• If A and B are disjoint sets, then A – B = A and B – A = B

Find the difference of two sets:

1. A = {1, 2, 3} and B = {4, 5, 6}. Find the difference between the two sets:

2. Let A = {a, b, c, d, e, f} and B = {b, d, f, g}. Find the difference between the two sets:

3. Given three sets P, Q and R such that:

P = {x : x is a natural number between 10 and 16},
Q = {y : y is a even number between 8 and 20} and
R = {7, 9, 11, 14, 18, 20}

(i) Find the difference of two sets P and Q

(ii) Find Q - R

(iii) Find R - P

(iv) Find Q – P

Complement of a Set
In complement of a set if ξ be the universal set and A a subset of ξ, then the complement of A is the set of all elements
of ξ which are not the elements of A.

Symbolically, we denote the complement of A with respect to ξ as A’.

Example: If ξ = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7} and A = {1, 3, 7} find A'.

Solution:
We observe that 2, 4, 5, 6 are the only elements of ξ which do not belong to A.
Therefore, A' = {2, 4, 5, 6}
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Note:

The complement of a universal set is an empty set.

The complement of an empty set is a universal set.
The set and its complement are disjoint sets.

Example:

1. Let the set of natural numbers be the universal set and A is a set of even natural numbers, then A' {x: x is a set of
odd natural numbers}

2. 2. Let ξ = The set of letters in the English alphabet. A = The set of consonants in the English alphabet then
A'=The set of vowels in the English alphabet.

Some properties of complement sets

 A ∪ A' = A' ∪ A = ∪ (Complement law)

 (A ∩ B') = ϕ (Complement law)
 (A ∪ B) = A' ∩ B' (De Morgan’s law)
 (A ∩ B)' = A' ∪ B' (De Morgan’s law)
 (A')' = A (Law of complementation)
 ϕ' = ∪ (Law of empty set
 ∪' = ϕ (Law of universal set)

Cardinal Number of a Set

The number of distinct elements in a finite set is called its cardinal number. It is denoted as n(A) and read as ‘the number
of elements of the set’.

Example:
(i) Set A = {2, 4, 5, 9, 15} has 5 elements.
Therefore, the cardinal number of set A = 5. So, it is denoted as n(A) = 5.

(ii) Set B = {w, x, y, z} has 4 elements.

Therefore, the cardinal number of set B = 4. So, it is denoted as n(B) = 4.

(iii) Set C = {Florida, New York, California} has 3 elements.

Therefore, the cardinal number of set C = 3. So, it is denoted as n(C) = 3.

(iv) Set D = {3, 3, 5, 6, 7, 7, 9} has 5 element.

Therefore, the cardinal number of set D = 5. So, it is denoted as n(D) = 5.

(v) Set E = { } has no element.

Therefore, the cardinal number of set D = 0. So, it is denoted as n(D) = 0.

Note:
Cardinal number of an infinite set is not defined.
Cardinal number of empty set is 0 because it has no element.

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Examples on Cardinal number of a set:
1. Write the cardinal number of each of the following sets:
(i) X = {letters in the word MALAYALAM}

(ii) Y = {5, 6, 6, 7, 11, 6, 13, 11, 8}

(iii) Z = {natural numbers between 20 and 50, which are divisible by 7}

Solution:
(i) Given, X = {letters in the word MALAYALAM}
Then, X = {M, A, L, Y}
Therefore, cardinal number of set X = 4, i.e., n(X) = 4

(ii) Given, Y = {5, 6, 6, 7, 11, 6, 13, 11, 8}

Then, Y = {5, 6, 7, 11, 13, 8}
Therefore, cardinal number of set Y = 6, i.e., n(Y) = 6

(iii) Given, Z = {natural numbers between 20 and 50, which are divisible by 7}
Then, Z = {21, 28, 35, 42, 49}
Therefore, cardinal number of set Z = 5, i.e., n(Z) = 5

2. Find the cardinal number of a set from each of the following:

(i) P = {x | x ∈ N and x22 < 30}

(ii) Q = {x | x is a factor of 20}

Cardinal Properties of Sets:

We have already learnt about the union, intersection and difference of sets.

If A and B are finite sets, then

• n(A ∪ B) = n(A) + n(B) - n(A ∩ B)
If A ∩ B = ф , then n(A ∪ B) = n(A) + n(B)
It is also clear from the Venn diagram that
• n(A - B) = n(A) - n(A ∩ B)
• n(B - A) = n(B) - n(A ∩ B)

Problems on Cardinal Properties of Sets

1. If P and Q are two sets such that P ∪ Q has 40 elements, P has 22 elements and Q has 28 elements, how many
elements does P ∩ Q have?

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2. In a class of 40 students, 15 like to play cricket and football and 20 like to play cricket. How many like to play
football only but not cricket?

3. There is a group of 80 persons who can drive scooter or car or both. Out of these, 35 can drive scooter and 60
can drive car. Find how many can drive both scooter and car? How many can drive scooter only? How many can
drive car only?

4. It was found that out of 45 girls, 10 joined singing but not dancing and 24 joined singing. How many joined
dancing but not singing? How many joined both?