Introduction Intersection and Union of sets Complement of a set Venn Diagrams Basic Set theory Results

Statistics for Engineers (CIVN2011A/STAT3029A)

Dr Honest Walter Chipoyera
School of Statistics and Actuarial Science
University of the Witwatersrand,
P Bag 3, Wits 2050
Republic of South Africa
E-mail: honest.chipoyera@wits.ac.za
Date: August 1, 2022

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Introduction Intersection and Union of sets Complement of a set Venn Diagrams Basic Set theory Results

Outline

1 Introduction

2 Intersection and Union of sets

3 Complement of a set

4 Venn Diagrams

5 Basic Set theory Results

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Introduction Intersection and Union of sets Complement of a set Venn Diagrams Basic Set theory Results

What this lecture series is all about

In this lecture series, we take a look at sets; knowledge of set

theory is useful in Probability Theory.
Objectives

At the end of this lecture series, you should be able to:

1 state what a set is.
2 appreciate and use set notation
3 use Venn diagrams to illustrate the relationship of given sets
4 understand basic Set Theory.

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Introduction Intersection and Union of sets Complement of a set Venn Diagrams Basic Set theory Results

Introduction

Set Theory, along with Counting Methods are critical elements of

Probability Theory.
Remark
Probability is the language used in Statistics.
Definition 1
Any well-defined collection of objects/things is called a set. The
individual objects/things making up a set are called elements of
the set. Any collection of some elements of a set is called a subset
of the original set.

Definition 2
The universal set, usually denoted by Ω, is a set comprising the
totality of all elements of interest.
Remark
Any set is a subset of the universal set. 4 / 20
Introduction Intersection and Union of sets Complement of a set Venn Diagrams Basic Set theory Results

Definition 3
A set which contains no elements, denoted by Φ, is called the null
set.

Example 1
The letters a, b, c, · · · , x, y , z make up the English alphabet. We
may view the English alphabet as a set of letters, and if we denote
it by A, we may write A = {a, b, c, · · · , x, y , z}. Each letter of the
alphabet is an element of A. We use the notation a ∈ A and
q ∈ A to denote the fact that both a and q are elements of A in
their individual right.

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Introduction Intersection and Union of sets Complement of a set Venn Diagrams Basic Set theory Results

Further, the set of vowels A1 = {a, e, i, o, u} is a subset of A and

we may write A1 ⊂ A to denote the fact that A1 is a subset of A.
The consonant b does not belong to set A1 and we denote this by
b∈/ A1 .
Remark If it is possible that set L is a subset of a set K which can
be equal to K , we write L ⊆ K . Further, if L is a subset of K
which cannot be equal to K , we write L ⊂ K and we say L is a
proper subset of K .
Example Suppose we were interested in all positive integers less
than 10. It would be correct to say that the universal set,
Ω = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9}. If we defined set A = {2, 4, 6, 8} and
set B as a set of even numbers, then it would be correct to say
that B ⊆ A.

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Introduction Intersection and Union of sets Complement of a set Venn Diagrams Basic Set theory Results

Definition 4
(intersection of sets) Let A and B be two arbitrary sets. Then
the intersection of A and B, denoted by A ∩ B is the set of
elements that belong to both A and B, i.e.

A ∩ B = {e ∈ A and e ∈ B}.

Example Suppose we were interested in all positive integers less

than 10. It would be correct to say that the universal set,
Ω = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9}. If we defined set A = {2, 4, 6, 8} and
set H = {1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9}. Then

A ∩ H = {2, 6, 8}

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Introduction Intersection and Union of sets Complement of a set Venn Diagrams Basic Set theory Results

Definition 5
(union of sets ) Let A and B be two arbitrary sets. Then the
union of A and B, denoted by A ∪ B is the set of elements that
belong to either A or B or both A and B, i.e.

A ∪ B = {e ∈ A or e ∈ B}.

Example Suppose Ω = {1, 2 · · · , 8, 9}. If we defined set

A = {2, 4, 6, 8} and set H = {1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9}. Then

A ∪ H = {1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9}

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Introduction Intersection and Union of sets Complement of a set Venn Diagrams Basic Set theory Results

Definition 6
(Disjoint sets) Two sets A and B are said to be disjoint if and
only if A ∩ B = Φ.

Example Suppose Ω = {1, 2 · · · , 8, 9}. If we defined set

A = {2, 4, 6, 8}, set H = {1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9} and set L = {3, 5, 7}}.
Then
since A ∩ H = {2, 6, 8} =
6 Φ, we cannot say that sets A and H
are disjoint.
However, sets A and L are disjoint because A ∩ L = Φ.

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Introduction Intersection and Union of sets Complement of a set Venn Diagrams Basic Set theory Results

Definition 7
(Difference of two sets) The difference of A and B, denoted by
A\B is the set of elements which belong to A but not B.

Example Suppose Ω = {1, 2 · · · , 8, 9}. If we defined set

A = {2, 4, 6, 8}, set H = {1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9} and set L = {3, 5, 7}},
then A\H = {4} while H\A = {1, 3, 5, 9}
Definition 8
(Complement of a set) The complement of a set A (denoted by
Ac ) with respect to the universal set Ω is the set of all elements in
Ω but not A, i.e. Ac = Ω\A.

Example Suppose Ω = {1, 2 · · · , 8, 9}. If we defined set

A = {2, 4, 6, 8}, set H = {1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9} and set L = {3, 5, 7}},
then Ac = {1, 3, 5, 7, 9} while H c = {4, 7}

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Complement of a set ...cont’

Remark For any set A, A and Ac are disjoint sets (i.e.

A ∩ Ac = Φ) while A ∪ Ac = Ω.
Definition 9 (Equality of two sets)
Two sets A and B are said to be equal if and only if the sets
contain exactly the same set of elements, i.e. if e ∈ A then e ∈ B
and vice-versa.

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Introduction Intersection and Union of sets Complement of a set Venn Diagrams Basic Set theory Results

Venn Diagrams

Venn diagrams or set diagrams are diagrams that show all

hypothetically possible logical relations between a finite
collection of sets (groups of things). (Wikipedia)
Venn diagrams were invented around 1880 by John Venn.
They are used in many fields, including set theory, probability,
logic, statistics, and computer science.
Venn diagrams normally consist of overlapping circles enclosed
in a rectangle - the rectangle will be representing the universal
set while each circle will be corresponding to a set. The
region of overlap will be the intersection of two sets.

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Example 2
The shaded regions (region in black) in the illustrations below
depict 1) A ∩ B ∩ C , 2) A\C , 3) B ∪ C , and 4) (A ∪ (B ∩ C ))c ,
respectively, if inspected row-wise.

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Example 3
Suppose the English alphabet is the universal set while
A = {a, e, i, o, u}, B = {l, i, z, a, r , d} and C = {w , i, z, a, r , d}.
Illustrate the relationships of these sets using a Venn diagram.

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Basic Set Theory Results

Let A, B and C be some arbitrary sets that are subsets of Ω, the

universal set. Then
A ∩ A = A and A ∪ A = A (idempotent laws) (1)
A ∩ B = B ∩ A and A ∪ B = B ∪ A (commutative laws)
(2)
(A ∩ B) ∩ C = A ∩ (B ∩ C ) and (A ∪ B) ∪ C = A ∪ (B ∪ C )
(Associative laws) (3)
A ∩ (B ∪ C ) = (A ∩ B) ∪ (A ∩ C ) and
A ∪ (B ∩ C ) = (A ∪ B) ∩ (A ∪ C ) (distributive laws) (4)
A ∩ Φ = Φ and A ∪ Φ = A (5)
A ∩ Ω = A and A ∪ Ω = Ω (6)
(7)

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Exercise

With the aid of Venn diagrams, show that

A ∩ (B ∪ C ) = (A ∩ B) ∪ (A ∩ C )

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Exercise

With the aid of Venn diagrams, show that

A ∪ (B ∩ C ) = (A ∪ B) ∩ (A ∪ C )

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More Set theory results

Ωc = Φ and Φc = Ω (8)
c c c
(A ∪ B) = A ∩B
and (A ∩ B) c
= Ac ∪ B c .(De Morgan0 s laws) (9)

In general, de Morgan’s laws say: for n sets A1 , A2 , · · · , An

(A1 ∩ A2 ∩ · · · ∩ An )c = Ac1 ∪ Ac2 ∪ · · · ∪ Acn (10)

and
(A1 ∪ A2 ∪ · · · ∪ An )c = Ac1 ∩ Ac2 ∩ · · · ∩ Acn (11)

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Some other useful set theory results

1 For any two events A and B,

A∩B ⊆A and A ∩ B ⊆ A (12)

A⊆A∪B and A ⊆ A ∪ B (13)

2 For any two sets A and B such that A ⊆ B, then

A ∪ (Ac ∩ B) = B (14)

and
B c ⊆ Ac (15)

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Use of Venn diagrams ....cont’

Exercise
Use Venn diagrams to verify that Equation 12-15 are true.

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