Sets

Learning Outcomes
At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:
1. Describe sets, subsets, null set, and cardinality of sets.
2. Translate sets in three notations: descriptive, tabular, and set builder form.
3. Give the complement of the given set.
4. Identify a subset of a given set.
5. Identify a proper subset of a given set. 4.
6. Give the difference between a subset and a proper subset; and
7. Determine if two sets are equal or equivalent by examining their elements.

Set
- A set is any group or collection of defined objects.

Example 1
The set of all days in the week.
A = {Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday}

Example 2
The set of all the letters in the word Mathematics
B = { M, A, T, H, E, I, C, S }

Example 3
The set of positive integers
Z+ = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, …}

Example 4
The set of integers more than 6
C = {7, 8, 9, 10, …}

Elements
- Objects listed in a set, separated by a comma

Example 1
The set of all the letters in the word Mathematics
B = {M, A, T, H, E, I, C, S}
The elements are M, A, T, H, E, I, C, and S

Example 2
The set of all days in the week.
A = {Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday}
The elements are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and
Sunday
The different set notations:

Descriptive or Rule Tabular or Listing form Set-builder form

Notation
A is the set of five female
names starting with letter
M
B is the set of values in the
equation x^2 – 5x + 6 = 0
C is the set of prime
numbers
A = {Michele, Mara, A = {x / x set of five female
Marielle, Mica, Meryl} names starting with M}
B = {3, 2} B = {x | x set of values in
the equation x^2 – 5x + 6 =
0}
C = {2, 3, 5, 7, 11, …} C = {x | x set of prime
numbers}

Empty Set / Null Set ∅ = {}

A set with no elements
A = {} or ∅

Finite Set and Infinite Set

A set is finite if the number of elements in the set is a whole number. Otherwise, it is
infinite. The cardinal number of a finite set A is the number of elements of set A and is
donated by n(A).

Universal Set
Universal set is the set of all elements considered in a certain investigation or group and
denoted by the symbol U.

Example 1
U = the set of digits in a decimal system.
U = {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9}

Set complement
The complement of a set A, denoted by A’, is the set of all elements in the universal set
U that are not elements of set A.

Example 1
U = {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9}
A = {2, 4, 6, 8}
B = {1, 3, 4, 7, 9}
C = {0, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8}

Find the following

a. A’ = {0, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9}
b. B’ = {0, 2, 5, 6, 8}
c. C’ = {1, 3, 4, 9}
Subset of a Set
Set A is a subset of B, denoted by A ⊆ B, if and only if all the elements in A are also
elements of B.

Example
A = {1, 2, 3}
B = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,}
Set A is a subset of B because all elements contained in A are also found in Set B.
i.e. A ⊆ B

Proper Subset
Set A is a proper subset of set be denoted by A ⊂ B, if and only if all the elements in A
are also elements of B, but A ≠ B.

Example 1
A = {2, 3, 4, 5}
B = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,}

A ⊂ B because all elements contained in A are also found in set B and A ≠ B.

Example 2
C = {2, 4, 6, 8, 10}
B = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8}
Is C a proper subset of B?

C ⊄ B because 10 is not an element of B.

Example 3
List down all subsets of A = {2, 4, 6}.
Subsets of A
{2} {2, 4}
{4} {4, 6}
{6} {2, 4, 6}
{2, 6} {}

*Notes
A set is a subset of itself.
An empty set is a subset of any set.

Example 4
List down ALL proper subsets of A = {2, 4, 6}.
Subsets of A
{2} {2, 4}
{4} {4, 6}
{6} {}
{2, 6} *Notes: exclude the set itself
Equal Sets
Two sets A and B are equal (A =B) if and only if A and B have exactly the same
elements.

Example 1
A = {1, 2, 3}
B = {1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3}

Set A and B are equal sets because they contain the same elements which are 1,
2 and 3.

Example 2
C = {M, A, L, E}
D = set of all letters in the word LAME

Sets C and Dare equal sets because they have the same elements, namely M, A,
L, and E.

Equivalent Sets
Two sets A and B are equivalent (A ~ B) if and only if A and B have the same number of
elements.

Example 1
V = the set all letter in the word FEMALE
F = {1, 2, 3, 4, 7}
Sets V and F are equivalent sets because they contain the same number of
elements.
i.e. n(V) = n(F) = 5

Example 2
G = containing the real roots of the equation x^2 – 5x + 6 = 0
B = {B, E, B, E}
Settle has two elements to entry. Set B and has two elements B and E, thus sets
G and B are equivalent sets because they have the same number of elements.
i.e. n(G) = n(B) = 2
Number of Subsets of a Set.
If A has N elements, then the number of subsets a passes 2n.

Example 1
A sports utility vehicle (SUV) manufacturing company in Japan offers 6 upgrade options
to their standard SUV. How many different versions of SUV can the company produce?

Let A be the set containing all possible upgrades. Since there are six upgrades, a client
can choose any combinations of those upgrades or not get an upgrade at all.

The total number of different versions of SUV is the total number of subsets of A.

Applying the formula 2n, then

A = 26
A = 64 versions of SUV

Example 2
A sports utility vehicle (SUV) manufacturing company in Japan offers 6 upgrade options
to their standard SUV.
If the company aims to produce 256 versions of the SUV, how many upgrade options
must it offer to its clients?

Solution
If there are 256 versions of the SUV, then the total number of upgrades is n, such that
2n = 256
2n = 28
n = 8 upgrades