SETS

Any group or collection of objects

is called a set.
The objects that belong in a set are the
elements, or members, of the set.
Ex.

The set consisting of the vowels in the English

alphabet has a, e, i, o, u as its elements.
The following two methods are often
used to designate a set.

Describe the set using words.

List the elements of the set inside a pair of
braces, { }.
This method is called the roster method.
Commas are used to separate the elements.
For instance,

let’s use V to represent the set consisting of the

vowels in the English alphabet. Using the roster
method, we would write

V = {a, e, i, o, u}

The order in which the elements of a set are listed is

not important. Thus the set consisting of the vowels
can also be written as
V = {e, o, a, i, u}
 Define Sets by Using a Word Description and
the Roster Method

Word Description
The set of the days of the week.

Roster Method
{Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday}
 Roster Method
{January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September,
October, November, December }

Word Description
The set of months in a year.
 The following sets of numbers are used
extensively in many areas of
mathematics.

Ellipsis
Z

*The three dots ... are called an ellipsis and used to show that an
established pattern continues.
 Z

The set of natural numbers is also called the set of counting

numbers.

The integers ... , –4, –3, –2, –1 are negative integers.

The integers 1, 2, 3, 4, ... are positive integers.

*Note: The integer zero is neither a positive nor a negative integer.

 Z

If a number in decimal form terminates or repeats a block of digits without

an end, then the number is a rational number.
It can also be written in the form,

where p and q are integers and q 0.

For example,
are rational numbers.
 Z

A decimal that neither terminates nor repeats is an irrational number.

For instance,
0.35335333533335. . .
is a nonterminating, nonrepeating decimal and thus is an irrational number.

Every real number is either a rational number or an irrational number.

Examples

Use the Roster Method to Represent a Set of

Numbers

1. The set of natural numbers less than 5.

2. The solution set of .
3. The set of negative integers greater than –4
SOLUTIONS:
1. The natural numbers less than 5 is {1, 2, 3, 4}
2. The solution set of
3. The set of negative integers greater than –4 is {–3, –2, –1}
Definitions Regarding
Sets
 A set is well defined if it is possible to determine whether
any given item is an element of the set.

The set of great songs is not a well-defined set.

The set of letters of the English alphabet is well defined.

Definitions Regarding Sets

 The statement
“4 is an element of the set of natural numbers”
can be written using mathematical notation as 4 N.
The symbol is read “is an element of.”

To state that
“–3 is not an element of the set of natural numbers,”
we use the “is not an element of ” symbol, , and write –3 N.

Definitions Regarding Sets

Examples
Determine whether each statement is true or false.

Z
 The empty set, or null set, is the set that contains no elements.
The symbol or { } is used to represent the empty set.

As an example of the empty set,

consider the set of natural numbers that are negative
integers.

Definitions Regarding Sets

 Another method of representing a set is set-builder notation.
Set-builder notation is especially useful when describing
infinite sets.
Ex.
The set of natural numbers greater than 7 in set-builder
notation is written as follows:

Definitions Regarding Sets

 The preceding set-builder notation is read as
“the set of all elements x such that x is an element of the set of
natural numbers and x is greater than 7.”

Definitions Regarding Sets

Examples
Use set-builder notation to write the following sets.

a. The set of integers greater than –3.

b. The set of whole numbers less than 1000.
SOLUTION

Z
 A set is finite if the number of elements in the set is a whole
number.
The cardinal number of a finite set is the number of elements in
the set.
The cardinal number of a finite set A is denoted by the notation
n (A).
Ex.
if A = {1, 4, 6, 9}, then n (A) = 4

In this case, A has a cardinal number of 4, which is sometimes

stated as “A has a cardinality of 4.”
Definitions Regarding Sets
Examples
Find the cardinality of each of the following sets.
SOLUTION

a. n (J) = 2.
b. n (S) = 29
c. n (T) = 3
 The following definitions play an important role in our work with
sets.

Definitions Regarding Sets

Examples
State whether each of the following pairs of sets are equal,
equivalent, both, or neither.
SOLUTION

a. The sets are not equal. However, each set has exactly five
elements, so the sets are equivalent.

b. The first set has three elements and the second set has four
elements, so the sets are not equal and are not equivalent.
Subsets
 Subsets

Consider the set of letters in the alphabet and the set of

vowels {a, e, i, o, u}. Every element of the set of vowels is
an element of the set of letters in the alphabet.

The set of vowels is said to be a subset of the set of

letters in the alphabet.

Subsets
 Here are two fundamental subset relationships.

The notation A B is used to denote that A is not a subset of B. To

show that A is not a subset of B, it is necessary to find at least one
element of A that is not an element of B.

Subsets
Examples
Determine whether each statement is true or false.

a. {5, 10, 15, 20} {0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30}
b. W N
c. {2, 4, 6} {2, 4, 6}
d. ∅ {1, 2, 3}
SOLUTION

a. True; every element of the first set is an element of the second set.
b. False; 0 is a whole number, but 0 is not a natural number.
c. True; every set is a subset of itself.
d. True; the empty set is a subset of every set.
 The English logician John Venn (1834–1923) developed
diagrams, which we now refer to as Venn diagrams, that
can be used to illustrate sets and relationships between
sets.

Subsets
 In a Venn diagram, the universal set is represented by a
rectangular region and subsets of the universal set are
generally represented by oval or circular regions drawn
inside the rectangle.

Subsets
 The region outside of the circle, but inside of the
rectangle, represents the set A' , read as " A prime" or
commonly known as the Complement of set A.

Subsets
Proper Subsets of a Set
 Proper Subsets of a Set

Proper Subsets of a Set

Examples
For each of the following, determine whether the first set is a
proper subset of the second set.

a. {a, e, i, o, u}, {e, i, o, u, a}

b. N, I
SOLUTION

a. Because the sets are equal, the first set is not a proper subset of
the second set.

b.Every natural number is an integer, so the set of natural numbers is

a subset of the set of integers. The set of integers contains elements
that are not natural numbers, such as –3. Thus the set of natural
numbers is a proper subset of the set of integers.
 List All the Subsets of a Set

Set C shows the four condiments that a hot dog

stand offers on its hot dogs.

C = {mustard, ketchup, onions, relish}

List all the subsets of C.
 Solution:
An organized list shows the following subsets.

Subsets with 0 elements:

{}
Subsets with 1 element:

{mustard}, {ketchup}, {onions}, {relish}

Number of Subsets of a Set

 Subsets with 2 elements:
{mustard, ketchup}, {mustard, onions},
{mustard, relish}, {ketchup, onions},
{ketchup, relish}, {onions, relish}

Subsets with 3 elements:

{mustard, ketchup, onions},{mustard, ketchup, relish},
{mustard, onions, relish},{ketchup, onions, relish}

Subsets with 4 elements:

{mustard, ketchup, onions, relish}
Number of Subsets of a Set
Number of Subsets of a Set
 Number of Subsets of a Set
In the Example earlier, we found that a set with 4 elements
has 16 subsets.

The following formula can be used to find the number of

subsets of a set with n elements, where n is a natural
number.

Number of Subsets of a Set

 The following diagram summarizes the above results.

Number of Subsets of a Set

Consider set A with n elements.

All of the subsets of A are proper subsets of A, except for

A itself.

Thus the number of proper subsets of A is – 1.

Number of Subsets of a Set

 Examples
A restaurant sells pizzas for which you can choose from seven (7)
toppings.

a. How many different variations of pizzas can the restaurant

serve?
b. What is the minimum number of toppings the restaurant must
provide if it wishes to advertise that it offers over 1000 variations
of its pizzas?
SOLUTION

a. The restaurant can serve 27 = 128 different variations of its pizzas.

b. Use the method of guessing and checking to find the smallest

natural number n for which

The restaurant must provide a minimum of

10 toppings if it wishes to offer over 1000
variations of its pizzas.
Cartesian Product
 Ordered Pair
Given elements a and b, the symbol (a, b) denotes the ordered pair consisting
of a and b together with the specification that a is the first element of the pair
and b is the second element.

Two ordered pairs (a,b) and (c,d) are equal if, and only if, a=c and b=d.

Symbolically:

(a,b)=(c,d) means that a=c and b=d.

Cartesian Product
Examples

a. Is (1 , 2)=(2 , 1)?
b. Is (3 , 5/10 )=( √9 , 1/2 )?
c. What is the first element of (1 , 1)?
SOLUTION

a. No. By definition of equality of ordered pairs,

(1 , 2)=( 2 , 1 ) if, and only if, 1=2 and 2=1. But 1≠2, and so the ordered
pairs are not equal.

b. Yes. By definition of equality of ordered pairs, ( 3 , 5/10 )=( √9 ,1/2 ) if,

and only if, 3=√9 and 5/10=1/2.

c. In the ordered pair ( 1 , 1), the first and the second elements are both 1.
 Cartesian Products

Cartesian Product
 Examples:

Cartesian Product
Cartesian Product