ACTIVITY #1

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF SETS? DEFINE AND GIVE AN EXAMPLE OF EACH.

1. Finite Set

A set is called a finite set if the members of the set can be counted.

Examples:  (i)  , which has 4 members.

(ii)  , which has 10 members.

2. Infinite Set

A set is called an infinite set if it has countless members.

Examples:  (i) The set  of whole numbers.

(ii) 

It is not easy to write infinite sets in the tabular form because it is not possible to make a list of an infinite number of members. The
example (i) can be written in the tabular form as

The example (ii) can be written in the tabular form as

3. Empty Set

A set which has no members is called an empty set or a null set. The empty set is denoted by   or  .

Example: The set   is an empty set because

Note:  An empty set is also a finite set.

4. Singleton Set

A set which contains only one member is called a singleton set.

Examples:  (i)   {   is neither prime nor composite}. This is a singleton set containing one element, i.e., 1.

(ii)   {  is an even prime number} $. This is a singleton set because there is only one even number which is
prime, i.e., 2.

5. Pair Set

A set which contains only two members is called a pair set.

Example:   . This is a pair set because there are only two members, i.e., 0 and 1.
6. Universal Set

The set of all objects under consideration is the universal set for that discussion. For example, if A, B, C, etc. are the sets in our
discussion then a set which has all the members of A, B, C, etc., can act as the universal set. Clearly, the universal set varies from
problem to problem. It is denoted by U or  .

Example: If the sets involved in a discussion are sets of some natural numbers, then the set   of all natural numbers may be
regarded as the universal set.

7. Cardinal Number of a Set

The cardinal number of a finite set A is the number of distinct members of the set and it is denoted by  . The cardinal number
of the empty set   is 0 because   has 0 members. So,  . And the cardinal number of an infinite set cannot be found
because such a set has countless members.

Examples:  (i) If   then  .

(ii) If   {   is a letter of the word PATNA} then   because A in the tabular form is 
.

Note:  If  , we call set A a singleton set.

If  , we call set A a pair set.

8. Equivalent Sets

Two finite sets with an equal number of members are called equivalent sets. If the sets A and B are equivalent, we write   
and read this as “A is equivalent to B”.

 if  .

Examples:  Let  , and   {  is a letter of the word DOOR}.

Then,   and   because  . So  .

9. Subsets

If two sets A and B are such that every member of A is also a member of B then we say that A is a subset of B. This is denoted
by  . the fact that the set A is a subset of B can also be expressed by saying B is a superset of A. We denote this by  .

Example:  Let   and 

Then,   and  . But   and  . So,  .

Similarly,  , and  .

Now,   and  . Also,   and  . Thus, all the members of A are members of C. So,  .
Also,  .

Note:  (i) Since the empty set   does not have any member, it is a subset of every other set.

(ii) By the definition of a subset, every set A is its own subset, i.e.,  .
10. Equal Sets

Two sets A and b are equal if every member of A is a member of B, and every member of B is a member of A. In other words, two
sets A and B are equal if   and  . This is denoted as 

Example:  Let   and 

Writing in the tabular form, 

Here, every member of A is a member of B, i.e., 

Also, every member of B is a member of A, i.e., 

So,  . The sets A and B are equal sets.