SETS, RELATION AND

FUNCTION
INDEX
■ Operations and Laws of Sets
■ Cartesian Products
■ Binary Relation
■ Partial Ordering Relation
■ Equivalence Relation
 Sets
■ A set is defined as a collection of distinct objects of the
same type or class of objects. The purposes of a set are
called elements or members of the set. An object can
be numbers, alphabets, names, etc.
■ Examples of sets are:
1. A set of rivers of India.
2. A set of vowels.
■ We broadly denote a set by the capital letter A, B, C,
etc. while the fundamentals of the set by small letter a,
b, x, y, etc.
■ If A is a set, and a is one of the elements of A, then we
denote it as a ∈ A. Here the symbol ∈ means -
"Element of."
Operations and Laws of Sets

■ The set operations are performed on two or more sets to obtain a combination of
elements as per the operation performed on them. In a set theory, there are three
major types of operations performed on sets, such as:
■ Union of sets (∪)
■ Intersection of sets (∩)
■ Difference of sets ( – )
■ Complement of a Set
Union of sets (∪)
■ If two sets A and B are given, then the union of A and B is
equal to the set that contains all the elements present in
set A and set B. This operation can be represented as;
■ A ∪ B = {x: x ∈ A or x ∈ B}
■ Where x is the elements present in both sets A and B.
Example: If set A = {1,2,3,4} and B {6,7}
■ Then, Union of sets, A ∪ B = {1,2,3,4,6,7}
Example: Find the union of given sets A = {1, 2, 3}, B= {3, 4, 5, 6}
A∪B = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}.

Question 2. Let X = {Raj, Jiya, Misa} be the set of students of Class XII, who are in the school
sports team. Let Y = {Anita, Rahul, Joy} be the set of students from Class XII who are in the
school Music team. Find X U Y and interpret the set.
■ Answer: (U union – combination of two sets)
■ Given X = {David, Jhon, Zoya}
■ Y = {Zoya, Rahul, Riya}
■ Common elements (Zoya) should be taken once
■ X U Y = {David, Jhon, Zoya, Rahul, Riya}.
■ This union set is equal to the set of students from Class XI who are present in the hockey
team or the football team or both of the teams.
2. Intersection of Sets (∩)
Intersection of two sets A and B is the set of all those
elements which belong to both A and B and is denoted by
A ∩ B.
A ∩ B = {x: x ∈ A and x ∈ B}
Example: Let A = {11, 12, 13}, B = {13, 14, 15}
A ∩ B = {13}.
■ Find the intersection of given sets: For example- A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10} , B =
{2, 4, 7, 12, 14} ,
■ A ∩ B = {2, 4, 7}. Thus, A ∩ B is a subset of A, and A ∩ B is a subset of B.
■ Find the intersection of given sets: Example: Let A = {1,2,3} and B = {3,4,5}
■ Then, A∩B = {3}; because 3 is common to both the sets.
3. Difference of Sets ( – )
The difference of two sets A and B is a set of all those
elements which belongs to A but do not belong to B and
is denoted by A - B.
1.A - B = {x: x ∈ A and x ∉ B}
Example: Let A = {1, 2, 3, 4} and B = {3, 4, 5, 6} then
A - B = {1, 2} and B - A = {5, 6}
■ Find the difference of given sets: Example: If A = {1,2,3,4,5,6,7} and B = {6,7} are two sets.
■ Then, the difference of set A and set B is given by;
■ A – B = {1,2,3,4,5}

■ Find the difference of given sets:

■ If A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6} and B = {3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8}, then find A – B and B – A.
■ Solution:
■ Given,
■ A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}
■ B = {3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8}
■ A – B = {1, 2} since the elements 1, 2 are there in A but not in B.
■ Similarly,
■ B – A = {7, 8}, since the elements 7 and 8 belong to B and not to A.
4. Complement of a Set
The Complement of a Set A is a set of all those elements
of the universal set which do not belong to A and is
denoted by Ac.
Ac = U - A = {x: x ∈ U and x ∉ A} = {x: x ∉ A}
Example: Let U is the set of all natural numbers.
A = {1, 2, 3}
Ac = {all natural numbers except 1, 2, and 3}.