Lesson 1

BASIC SET CONCEPTS AND NOTATIONS

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

In this lesson, you will

• Define sets;
• Determine and form well-defined sets
• Determine if a set is finite, infinite, or empty;
• Recognize equal and equivalent sets;
• Determine the cardinal number of a set; and
• Use different notations such as the roster method, the rule
method, and the set-builder notation to describe sets.
SET
• It is a well-defined collection of distinct
objects with a common characteristics or
property.
• A set is well-defined if it is possible to
determine whether an object is a member
of the set.
ROSTER METHOD
• A method of listing the elements in a row with comma
separation within curly brackets.
EXAMPLE:
• A = {3}
• B = {1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9}
• C = {x, y, z}
• D = {red, blue, green, violet, yellow, orange, brown, black}
ELEMENT OR A MEMBER OF SET

• Each object in a set is called an element or a member

of the set.
• The symbol ∈ is used to indicate that an object is an
element of a set and ∉ is used to indicate that an object
is not an element of a set.
EXAMPLE:
red ∈ C (read as “red is an element of set C”)
maroon ∉ C (read as “maroon is not an element of set C”)
EXAMPLE 1:

Determine whether the given set is well-

defined or not.
• the set of students with surnames starting WELL-DEFINED
with the letter J in your class
• the set of positive integers WELL-DEFINED

• the set of funniest movies watched by

NOT
Grade 7 students
• the set of young Grade 7 teachers in your NOT
school
• A set with an infinite number if elements, such as in example 1b,
can be written in the following manner:
P = {1, 2, 3, 4, …}

Indicate that the list continues

ellipses indefinitely

Other ways of describing a set aside from listing all

the elements using the roster method are the rule
method and the set-builder notation.
RULE METHOD

• This method involves specifying a rule or condition which can be

used to decide whether an object can belong to the set.
• This rule is written inside a pair of curly braces and can be
written either as a statement or expressed symbolically or written
using a combination of statements and symbols.
EXAMPLE:
P = {1, 2, 3, 4, …} can be written as P = {positive
integers}, which is read as “set of P whose elements are
the positive integers”.
SET-BUILDER NOTATION

• In this method, we do not list the elements; instead, we will write

the representative element using a variable followed by a vertical
line or colon and write the general property of the same
representative element.
EXAMPLE:
P = {x|x is a positive integer}
read as “P is the set of all x, such that x is a positive
integers”
EXAMPLE 2:

Write each set using the other two methods of describing a set.
• K = {vowels in the English alphabet}
Roster method:

Set-Builder Notation:

• E = {x|x is a letter in the word mathematics}

Roster method:

Rule method:
FINITE VS INFINITE VS EMPTY SET

• A set is called an infinite set if it is possible to

list all the elements of the set; otherwise, the set
is called a finite set. On the other hand, if a set
has no elements, it is called an empty set or null
set.
• The symbol for an empty set is ∅ or { }
EXAMPLE 3

Determine if each set is finite, infinite, or empty.

• Z = {positive integers} INFINITE SET

• T = {days of the week that start with the letter D} EMPTY SET

• L = {points on the line} INFINITE SET

• H = {months in a year} FINITE

• K = {x|x is an odd composite number less than 5} EMPTY SET

CARDINAL NUMBER OR CARDINALITY

• The cardinal number or cardinality of a set A is the

total number of elements in A. It can be represented as

n(A), which is read as “n of A”

EXAMPLE 4:

Determine the cardinality of the given sets.

a. A = {4, 8, 12, 16, 20}

b. B = {odd numbers between 10 and 25}

c. C = {days of the week that begin with the letter R}

EQUIVALENT VS EQUAL

• Two sets are said to be equivalent if they have the same

cardinal number. Two sets are equal if they have exactly
the same elements.
EXAMPLE:
A = {a, b, c, d, e}
B = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}
C = {first five letters of the English Alphabet}
SYMBOLS FOR NUMBER SET
THANK YOU
AND
GOD BLESS!