Symbols in Set Theory

Symbol Meaning

{· · ·} the set (or collection) of all elements described by · · ·

a capital letter usually a set∗

a lowercase letter usually an element (or a member) of a set∗
∅ or ø the empty set, i.e. the set containing no elements
U the universal set, i.e. the set of all elements under consideration
- this notation is barely used, since the set of all elements is usually
named in the problem

, (comma) the english words “and”

∼ or ¬ “not” (∼ also used with similar elements w.r.t. an equivalence relation)
∈ “is an element of the set”
6∈ “is not an element of the set”
∀ “for all”
∃ “there exists”
! “unique”
⇒ “implies” (stuff on left of arrow implies stuff on right of arrow)
⇐ “implies” (stuff on right of arrow implies stuff on left of arrow)
s.t. or | “such that”
def.
:= or = “is defined as” (the definition of the stuff on left is given by stuff on right)

A⊆B the set A is a subset of the set B

meaning that if a ∈ A then a ∈ B
(so all elements of the set A also belong to the set B)

B⊂C the set B is a proper subset of the set C

meaning that both A ⊂ B and ∃c ∈ C s.t. c 6∈ B
(so A is a subset of B and one can find an element of the set C
that does not belong to the set B)

A=C the sets A, C are equal

meaning that A ⊆ C and A ⊇ C

A∪B := {c | either c ∈ A or c ∈ B (or both)}, the set A union the set B

A∩B := {c | c ∈ A, c ∈ B}, the set A intersect the set B
def.
A0 or Ac or U − A or U \A = {b | b ∈ U, b 6∈ A}, the complement of A

def.
A×B = {(a, b) | a ∈ A, b ∈ B}, the Cartesian product of the sets A and B
For example if A := {a1 , a2 , a3 } and B := {b1 , b2 } then the set A × B contains
six elements, such as (a3 , b1 ) ∈ A × B. Note that the Cartesian product X × X
is ordered. For example, (a1 , a2 ) 6= (a2 , a1 ) for (a1 , a2 ), (a2 , a1 ) ∈ A × A.

P (X) or P(X) := {A | A ⊆ X}, the power set of X

meaning the set of all subsets of X

Abbreviation Meaning
i.e. “that is,” or “in other words,”
e.g. for example
ex. example
WTS want to show (used in proofs to prepare the reader for what’s ahead)
w.r.t. with respect to

∗One must be very careful with letters. You must understand the context of the letter to understand what the
letter means, especially once we deviate away from set theory (which we do immediately).