Chapter 2: Mathematics as a language

Chapter Introduction

Learning outcomes:
In this lesson, you will be able to:
 explain the nature of mathematics as a language and
 recognize that mathematics is a useful language.

Language is very powerful. It is used to express our emotions, thoughts and

ideas. However, if the recipient of the message cannot understand you, then
there is o communication at all. It is very important that both of you
understand the language. Mathematics is very hard for others to study
because they are very overwhelmed with the numbers, operations, symbols
and formula. On the other hand, if one knows how to interpret and understand
these things, then the subject will be comprehensible.

Lesson 1: The Language of Mathematics

Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the students will be able to:
 classify the characteristics of mathematical language;
 differentiate expressions from sentences; and
 identify conventions in the mathematical language.
 define sets and relations
 perform operations o mathematical expressions correctly.
Enabling Activity: (Collaboration)

Title: Exploration
Time: 5 minutes
Material: Hand-outs

Direction: Discuss the characteristics of the language of mathematics.

1. The language of mathematics is precise.

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2. The language of mathematics is concise.
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3. The language of mathematics is powerful.
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Comprehending a message is better understood once a person

understand how things are said and may know why it is said. The use of
language in mathematics is far from ordinary speech. It can be learned but
needs a lot of efforts like learning a new dialect or language.

Expressions versus sentences

You learned in your English subject that expressions do not state a

complete thought, but sentences do. Mathematical sentences state a
complete thought. On the other hand, mathematical expressions do not. You
cannot test if it is true or false.
Mathematical expression Mathematical sentence
26 . 4 -11 + 7 = 4
5+2 1 -4 = -3
x + √2 1.x=x
Conventions in the mathematical language

The common symbol used for multiplication is x but it can be mistakenly

taken as the variable x. There are instances when the centered dot ( .) is a
shorthand to be used for multiplication especially when variables are involved.
If there will be no confusion, the symbol may be dropped.

8 ∙ y=8 y 8 ∙ y =8 y

a ∙ b ∙ c=abc

t ∙ s ∙9=9 st

a ∙ b ∙ c=abc

t ∙ s ∙9=9 st

It is conventional to write the number first before the letters. If in case the
letters are more than one, you have to arrange the letters alphabetically.

Sets
What is a set? It’s a collection or group of well-defined objects. These
objects are called elements or members of the set. The origin of sets lies in
the pioneering work of George Cantor who published his first work on infinite
sets in 1874.

It is definitely common for us to use the concept of sets in everyday

experience. Examples are given below:
A set of silverware a set of encyclopedia
A set of tires for a car a set of dishes

In mathematics, we have discussed some of the following:

A set of whole numbers a set of points

A set of integers a set of solutions for an equation

The main characteristics of a set in mathematics is that it is well-

defined. There is a universe of objects to be considered. If we are given a
particular object, we know whether that particular object is an element of the
set or not. For example, if we consider the set of odd integers, we know that 7
1
is an element of this set, and 10 and are not. On the other hand, the set of
3
honest people is not well-defined because it may include different people in
the set.
 Example 1: Well-Defined Set

a. the set of all large numbers

b. the set of all multiples of 5
c. the set of good politicians
d. the set of honest students in your class

Solution:
a. The set is not well-defined. Some people will have different opinions on
which numbers are large.
b. The set is well-defined. Numbers that are multiples of 5 can easily be
differentiated from the others.
c. The set is not well defined. Some people may include different politicians in
the set.
d. The set is not well-defined because there is no common agreement as to
what is meant by “honest students.”

Try it 1
Which of the following sets are well-defined?
a. the set of all factors of 18
b. the set of friendly students in your class
c. the set of senior citizens
d. The set of all your crush
e. The set of your favourite color

1.1 DESCRIBING SETS

Notation
When talking about sets, it is fairly standard to use Capital Letters to represent the set,
and lowercase letters to represent an element in that set.

So for example, A is a set, and a is an element in A. Same with B and b, and C and c.

Also, when we say an element a is in a set A, we use the symbol   to show it.
And if something is not in a set use  .

Example: Set A is {1,2,3}. We can see that 1   A, but 5   A

 There is a fairly simple notation for sets. We simply list each element
(or "member") separated by a comma, and then put some curly brackets
around the whole thing:

The curly brackets {} are sometimes called “set brackets” or “braces”. The
three dots ... are called an ellipsis, and mean “continue on”. So that means
the first example continues on ... for infinity.

Equal sets and equivalent sets

The cardinal number of a set A, denoted by n(A), is the number of
elements in the set. Thus, in A = { a , e ,i , o , u }, n(A)=5 because set A contains 5
elements.
Two sets that contain exactly the same number of elements are called
equivalent sets. If we are given A = { 1 , 2, 3 , 4 } and B= { m , a ,t , h }, we say that
set A is equivalent to set B (A≈ B ¿. Both sets contain four elements; hence,
they are equivalent.
Two sets that contain exactly the same elements are said to be equal
sets. If we are given A = { a , e ,i , o , u } and B = { e , o ,i , u , a }, then we can say that
A=B. These two sets contain exactly the same elements and, therefore, are
equal.
Example: Equal and Equivalent sets
Are the following sets are equal?
1. A = { t ,e , n }, B = { n , e ,t }
2. C = { m , a ,t , h } D = { g , e , o , m }
3. E = { 1 , 2, 3 , 4 } F = { 5,10,15,20 , … }

UNION
The union of two sets is a set containing all elements that are
in A or in B (possibly both).
For example, {1, 2} ∪ {2, 3} = {1, 2, 3}.
Thus, we can write x ∈ (A∪B) if and only if (x ∈ A) or (x ∈ B).
Note that A ∪ B = B ∪ A. In Figure 1, the union of
sets A and B is shown by the shaded
area in the Venn diagram.

Fig.1 - The shaded area shows the set B ∪ A.

INTERSECTION
The intersection of two sets A and B, denoted by A ∩ B, consists of all
elements that are both in A and B.
For example, {1, 2} ∩ {2, 3} = {2}. In Figure 2, the intersection of
sets A and B is shown by the shaded area using a Venn diagram.

Fig. 2 - The shaded area shows the set B ∩ A.

COMPLEMENT

The complement of a set A, denoted by  Ac  or  A' , read as A

complement or A prime, is the set of all elements that are in the universal
set S but are not in A.
For example, Let S= {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7} and A = {1, 3, 5, 6} then A' = {2, 4, 7}.
In Figure 3, is shown by the shaded area using a Venn diagram.

Fig. 3 - The shaded area shows the set  A' = Ac .

DIFFERENCE

The difference (subtraction) is defined as follows. The set A−B or

AB consists of elements that are in A but not in B.
For example, if A= {1, 2, 3} and B= {3, 5}, then A − B= {1, 2}. In Figure
4, A−B is shown by the shaded area using a Venn diagram. Note that A − B=
A ∩ Bc .

Fig. 4 - The shaded area shows the set A − B.

1.4 SOLVING PROBLEMS USING VENN DIAGRAMS

There are some type of problems that can be solved by using a Venn
diagram.

Example:
In a group of 36 first year college male students, 22 like basketball, 18 are
interested in tennis, and 14 like volleyball. Of these students, 7 are interested
in both volleyball and basketball, 9 like both basketball and tennis, 5 like both
tennis and volleyball, and 3 students like the three sports.
1. How many students like volleyball only?
2. How many students like basketball but do not like tennis and volleyball?
3. How many students like at least one sport?
4. How many students like exactly one sport?
5. How many students are interested in tennis only?

Solution:
Let B = set of students who like basketball
T = set of students who like tennis
V = set of students who like volleyball
Answers to the questions:

1. 5 students

2. 9 students

3. 36 students

4. 21 students

5. 7 students