Module in

Discrete Mathematics

SESSION TOPIC : SETS

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

At the end of the session you will:

1. explain the concept of sets and its types
2. represent a set using roster or set builder notation
3. evaluate the result of set operations and Cartesian product

KEY TERMS
set subset universal set element
union intersection complement cardinality

CORE CONTENT

A. SETS

A set is a collection of objects, which are called the ‘elements’ of the set

Examples:

• A={1,2,3,4,5}

• A set of all positive integers

• A set of all the planets in the solar system
• A set of all the states in India
• A set of all the lowercase letters of the alphabet

➢ a ∈ A means that ‘a’ is an element of A (A is the set)

o 2∈A 4∈ A 0∉A
➢ If an element x is a member of any set S, it is denoted by x∈S and if an element y is not
a member of set S, it is denoted by y∉S.
 Example − If S={1,1.2,1.7,2},1∈S but 1.5∉S

Finite Sets

-A set with limited number of elements

Ex: A={1,2,3,4,5}

Infinite Sets

- A set with unlimited number of elements

Ex: A={1,2,3,4,5…}

Equal Sets

Sets are equal if and only if they have the same elements

A={1,2,3,4,5} B={1,2,3,4,5}
Sets A and B are equal sets

Subset

A is a subset of B if and only if every element of A is also an element of B

• A ⊆ B indicates that A is a subset of the set B

A={1,2,3,4,5} B={1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8}

Equivalent Sets

Empty set

• the empty set is denoted by {} or ∅

 A={ } or A=∅

Universal set

• the universal set is the set containing all elements of all sets needed to discuss a topic

• denoted by U

Disjoint sets

-two sets are disjoint if their intersection is the empty set (i.e. they have no elements in
common)

B. Representation of a Set
Sets can be represented in two ways −

• Roster or Tabular Form

• Set Builder Notation

Roster or Tabular Form

The set is represented by listing all the elements comprising it. The elements are enclosed
within braces and separated by commas.
Example 1 − Set of vowels in English alphabet, A={a,e,i,o,u}
Example 2 − Set of odd numbers less than 10, B={1,3,5,7,9}
Set Builder Notation
The set is defined by specifying a property that elements of the set have in common. The set
is described as A={x:p(x)}

Example 1 − The set {a,e,i,o,u}is written as −

A={x:x is a vowel in English alphabet}

Example 2 − The set {1,3,5,7,9} is written as −

B={x:1≤x<10 and (x%2)≠0}

Example 3- S = { x ∈ ℤ | –2 < x < 5 }

S= { } ?

Example 4- S={ x : x is a cube number and 0<x<100 }

S= { } ?

Venn Diagram

• when solving a problem using Venn diagrams, you must state what each of the subsets
means before you draw the diagram

Cardinality

the cardinality of a set is the number of elements in the set

 • cardinality is denoted by |A|
• If A={1,2,3,4,5}, |A|=5

C. SET OPERATIONS

1. Union

The union of the sets A and B is the set that contains the elements that are either in A or
in B, or in both.

• denoted by A ∪ B
•
A∪B=
{x x∈A V x∈B}

Ex: A={1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8) B={2,4,6,8,10}

A U B = {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,10}

2. Intersection

-the set containing elements that in both A and B

• A ∩ B = { x | x∈ A ∧ x ∈ B }

Ex: A={1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8) B={2,4,6,8,10}

A ∩ B= {2,4,6,8}

3. Set difference

The difference of A and B, A – B, is the set containing elements in A but not in B.

• Note that A – B ≠ B – A
• Note that A ∩ Bc = A – B
• A-B ={x|x∈A ∧ x∉B}

Ex: A={1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8) B={2,4,6,8,10}

A - B= {1,3,5,7}
 4. Complement

The complement of A is Ac. Ac = U – A is the set of elements in U but not in A.

Ex: U={1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10) A={2,4,6,8,10}

A’= {1,3,5,7,9}

Cartesian Product / Cross Product

The Cartesian product of n number of sets A1,A2,…AnA1,A2,…An denoted

as A1×A2⋯×AnA1×A2⋯×An can be defined as all possible ordered
pairs (x1,x2,…xn)(x1,x2,…xn) where x1∈A1,x2∈A2,…xn∈An

Example − If we take two sets A={a,b} and B={1,2},

The Cartesian product of A and B is written as − A×B={(a,1),(a,2),(b,1),(b,2)}
The Cartesian product of B and A is written as − B×A={(1,a),(1,b),(2,a),(2,b)}

IN-TEXT ACTIVITY

• Video discussion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMhoRLGNR5Y -Sets

• Additional Lecture (pdf)

(to be uploaded to mrooms.lpu.net)
 SELF ASSESSMENT

ASSIGNMENT

SEATWORK

1.Are equal sets also equivalent sets? Are equivalent sets also equal sets?

2. Given: A={1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10) B={2,4,6,8,10,12,14}

Find:

A - B= ___

|A ∩ B| + |B|= ___
 REFERENCES

https://matthewpalmer.net/blog/2015/01/20/discrete-maths-math1081-unsw-notes-sets-
functions-sequences/index.html
https://www.tutorialspoint.com/discrete_mathematics/discrete_mathematics_sets.htm