MMW TOPIC 5

THE LANGUAGE OF SETS

BASIC CONCEPTS OF SETS

Set – Collection, pair, data, range, bracket, organize, bunch, group/grouped

- A well-defined collection of distinct objects

Example: A= {1,3,5}

- It is usually represented by capital letters.

- The objects of a set are separated by commas inside braces.
- A set is said to be well-defined if the objects in a set are specifically listed.
- The objects that belong in a set are the elements, or members of the set. (denoted by ϵ)

Types of writing sets

Set-Roster Notation – directly listing the elements inside braces separated by commas.

Examples: A = {1,3,5}
: F = {a,e,i,o,u}
: X = {red, orange, yellow, green}
Note: Elements of a set can be anything, letters, number, colors, names, places, etc.

Set-Builder Notation – describing the elements of a set.

Kinds of Sets

 Empty Set/Null Set

 Singleton Set
 Finite Set
 Infinite Set
 Equivalent Set
 Equal Sets

Empty Set/Null Set - a set that contains no element.

- Denoted by Ф or {}

Singleton Set - a set that contains only one element.

Finite Set – a set that contains fixed number of elements.

Infinite Set – a set that contains infinite number of elements.

- In writing/listing infinite elements of a set, use ONLY THREE ELLIPSES/DOTS to signify its
continuity.

Equivalent Sets – Two sets are said to be equivalent if they have the same number of elements.
Denoted by ≈

Equal Sets and Unequal Sets – Two sets are said to be equal if they contain exactly the same
elements regardless the order. Denoted By: = (equal) ≠ (not equal/unequal)
Subset – set X is a subset of set Y if every element of X is an element of Y. Denoted by:

Power Set – A set of all the subsets of the set.