THE LANGUAGE OF SETS

Mathematics in the modern world

George Cantor (1845-1918) – He introduced sets as a formal mathematical term in 1879.

Set Definition

Sets are simply a collection of distinct objects forming a group. A set can have any
group of items, be it a collection of numbers, days of a week, types of vehicles, and so on.
Every item in the set is called an element of the set. Curly brackets are used while writing a
set. A set is defined as a well-defined collection of objects. Sets are named and represented
using capital letters.

Example:

Some standard sets in maths are:

 Set of natural numbers, ℕ = {1, 2, 3, ...}
 Set of whole numbers, W = {0, 1, 2, 3, ...}
 Set of integers, ℤ = {..., -3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, ...}
 Set of rational numbers, ℚ = {p/q | q is an integer and q ≠ 0}
 Set of irrational numbers, ℚ' = {x | x is not rational}
 Set of real numbers, ℝ = ℚ ∪ ℚ'

All these are infinite sets. But there can be finite sets as well. For example, the collection of
even natural numbers less than 10 can be represented in the form of a set, A = {2, 4, 6, 8},
which is a finite set.

Elements of a Set

 The items present in a set are called either elements or members of a set.
 The elements of a set are enclosed in curly brackets separated by commas.
 To denote that an element is contained in a set, the symbol '∈' is used.
 If an element is not a member of a set, then it is denoted using the symbol '∉'

Cardinal Number of a Set

The cardinal number or cardinality or order of a set denotes the total number of elements
in the set.
Example: In the set , A = {2, 4, 6, 8}, The cardinality of set A is 4.

Set Notation

There are different set notations used for the representation of sets in set theory. They differ in
the way in which the elements are listed. The three set notations used for representing sets are:
 Semantic form
 Roster form
 Set builder form

Semantic notation

Semantic notation describes a statement to show what are the elements of a set. For
example, a set of the first five odd numbers.
Roster Notation

The most common form used to represent sets is the roster notation in which the
elements of the sets are enclosed in curly brackets separated by commas. Also, if there is an
endless list of elements in a set, then they are defined using a series of dots at the end of the
last element.
Example:

 Finite Roster Notation of Sets : Set A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5} (The first five natural numbers)
 Infinite Roster Notation of Sets : Set B = {5, 10, 15, 20 ....} (The multiples of 5)

Set Builder Form

The set builder notation has a certain rule or a statement that specifically describes the
common feature of all the elements of a set. The set builder form uses a vertical bar in its
representation, with a text describing the character of the elements of the set.
Example 1:
A = { x | x is an even number, x ≤ 20}.

The statement says, “all the elements of set A are even numbers that are less than or
equal to 20. Sometimes a ":" is used in the place of the "|".

Example 2:
A = { x ∈ N|x ≤ 20 }

The statement says, “The set of all element natural numbers such that x is less than or equal to
20.”

PROCESSING (Example problems) 1

a. Let ¿ {1 , 2 ,3 } , B={3 ,1 , 2 } , and C={1 , 1 ,2 , 3 , 3 ,3 }. What are the elements of A , B ,∧C ?

How A , B ,∧C related?

b. Is { 0 }=0 ?

c. How many elements are in the set {1, {1}}?

d. For each nonnegative integer n , Let U n ={n ,−n }. Find U 1 , U 2 ,∧U 0?

Answer:

a. A, B, and C have exactly the same three element (1, 2, 3). Therefore A, B, and C are simply
different ways to represent the same set.

b. { 0 } ≠ 0 because {0} is a set with one element which is 0, whereas 0 is just a symbol that
represents the number zero.

c. The set {1, {1} has two elements: 1 and the set whose only element is 1.

d. U 1={1 ,−1 }, U 2={2 ,−2 },

U 0 ={0 ,−0 }
U 0 ={0 , 0 }
U 0 ={0 , }
PROCESSING (Example problems) 2
+ ¿¿
Given that R denotes the set of all real numbers, Z the set of all integers, and Z the set of all
positive integers, describe each of the following sets.

a. { x ∈ R|−2< x <5 }
b. { x ∈ Z|−2< x <5 }
c. { x ∈ Z −2< x <5 }
+¿ ¿

Answer:

a. { x ∈ R|−2< x <5 } is the open interval of real numbers between -2 and 5.

b . { x ∈ Z|−2< x <5 } is the set of all integers between -2 and 5. It is equal to the set {-1, 0, 1, 2, 3,
4}
+ ¿¿
d. Since all the integers in Z are positive, { x ∈ Z −2< x <5 }={1 , 2 ,3 , 4 }.
+¿ ¿

Subset and Superset

For two sets A and B, if every element in set A is present in set B, then set A is a subset
of set B(A ⊆ B) and in this case, B is the superset of set A (B ⊇ A).

Example: Consider the sets A = {1,2,3} and B = {1,2,3,4,5,6}. Here:

 A ⊆ B, since all the elements in set A are present in set B.

 B ⊇ A denotes that set B is the superset of set A.

Proper subset

 Subsets - For Sets A and B, Set A is a Subset of Set B if every element in Set A is also
in Set B. It is written as ⊆ .
 Proper Subsets - For Sets A and B, Set A is a Proper Subset of Set B if every element in
Set A is also in Set B, but Set A does not equal Set B.

PROCESSING (Subset and Proper subset)

Let A=Z , B= {n ∈ Z|0 ≤ n ≤100 }, C={100 , 200 , 300 , 400 , 500 }. Evaluate the truth and falsity
+¿ ¿

of the following statements.

a. B⊆ A
b. C is a proper subset of A
c. C and B have at least one element in common
d. C ⊆ B
e. C ⊆ C

Answer:

a. False. Zero is not a positive integer.

b. True. Each element in C is a positive integer and, hence, is in A, but there are elements in A
that are not in C.
c. True. For example, 100 is in both C and B.
d. False. For example, 200 is in C but not in B.
e. True. Every element in C is in C. In general, definition of subset implies that all sets are
subsets of themselves.

CARTESIAN PRODUCT

Kazimier Kuratowski (1896-1980) – A polish mathematician who published the definition of sets
which has since become standard. It says that an ordered pair is a set of the form

{ { a } , { a ,b } } .
The set has two elements, {a } and {a , b } whereas a ≠ b
If a=b ,then we can simply say that a is both the first and the second element of the pair. In this
case the set that defines the ordered pair becomes
{ { a } , { a , a } }, which equals { { a } } .
Cartesian Product Definition
 Given sets A and B, the Cartesian product of A and B, denoted A × B and read A cross
B, is the set of all ordered pairs (a, b), whereas a is in A and b is in B. Symbolically:
A × B= { ( a , b )|a∈ A∧b ∈ B }
Example: Find the Cartesian products

Let A={1 , 2, 3 } and B={u , v } .

a. Find A × B
b. Find B× A
c. Find B× B
d. How many elements are in A × B , B× A , B× B ?
e. Let R denotes the set of all real numbers. Describe R × R ?

Answer:

a. A × B={( 1 ,u ) , ( 2 , u ) , ( 3 , u ) , ( 1 , v ) , ( 2 , v ) , ( 3 , v ) }
b. B× A={( u , 1 ) , ( u , 2 ) , ( u , 3 ) , ( v , 1 ) , ( v , 2 ) , ( v , 3 ) }
c. B× B={ (u ,u ) , ( u , v ) , ( v ,u ) , ( v , v ) }
d. A × B has six elements , B× A has six elemen ts , B× B has four elements
e. R × R is the set of all ordered pair ( x , y ) where both x∧ y are real numbers.
The term Cartesian planeis often use ¿ refer ¿ a plane with this coordinate sytem .