Set and Related Concepts

1. Set and Its Elements

A set is an undefined term in Algebra. Intuitively, it is either an empty collection or a well-defined
collection of objects called elements.

Note:
a. A set being well-defined means, given an object, there is no ambiguity in determining whether this
object belongs to or does not belong to the set.
b. means “x is an element of the set S” or “an element x belongs to the set S”.

Examples:

2. Methods of Describing a Set

a. Roster/enumeration method – all elements in the set are listed exactly once and without regard to
order.
b. Rule/descriptive method – states a characteristic property which is unique to the elements belonging
to the set.

Note: Both notations enclose the elements in braces.

Examples:

3. Empty and Universal Sets

An empty/null set, denoted by ∅ or { }, is the set containing no element.
A universal set, denoted by U, is the set of all elements under consideration.

Note: U is considered the biggest set and no other set can contain it.

4. Subset
Set A is a subset of another set B, denoted by , if every element of A is also an element of B.
A is a proper subset of B, denoted by , if A is non-empty and there is at least one element of B
which is not an element of A.
An improper subset of B is a subset of B which is not a proper subset.

Note:
a. Any set is a subset of itself.
b. Each non-empty set has two improper subsets, namely, the empty set and the set itself.
Examples:

5. One-to-One Correspondence between Two Sets

 A one-to-one correspondence exists between two sets A and B if it is possible to associate the elements of
A with the elements of B in such a way that each element of each set is associated with exactly one
element of the other.

Examples:

6. Equal and Equivalent Sets

Two sets A and B are said to be equal, written A = B, if and only if and .
Two sets A and B are said to be equivalent (of the same size) if there is a one-to-one correspondence
between their elements.

Note:
a. Two sets are equal if they contain precisely the same elements. Think of two equivalent sets as sets
having the same number of elements.
b. If two sets A and B are equal, then they are equivalent. But if two sets A and B are equivalent, they are
not necessarily equal.

Examples:

7. Finite and Infinite Sets

A set is said to be finite if its elements can be counted and the last element of the set can be reached.
Otherwise, it is infinite.

Examples:

8. Cardinality of a Set
The cardinality or cardinal number of a finite set A, denoted by , is the number of elements of A.

Examples:

9. Power Set of a Given Set

Given a set A with as the number of elements of A. There are subsets of A.
The power set of A, denoted by , is the set whose elements are the subsets of A.

Examples:

10. Set Operations

A Venn diagram is a pictorial representation of a set. This uses geometric figures, like circles and
rectangles, to demonstrate relations and properties between sets.

a. Set Intersection
The intersection of sets A and B, denoted by (read as “A intersection B”), is the set of all
elements that are in both A and B. In symbols, .

Disjoint Sets
Two sets A and B are disjoint if they have no elements in common; that is, .

b. Set Union
The union of sets A and B, denoted by (read as “A union B”), is the set of all elements that are in
A or in B or in both A and B. Symbolically,

Note:

c. Set Difference
The set difference of sets B and A, denoted by (read as “B but not A”), is the set of elements in B
that are not elements of A. In symbols, .

Note: The set is not necessarily the same as .

d. Set Complement
The complement of a set A with respect to the universal set U, denoted by , is the set of
elements in U that are not in A. In symbols, .

Note: is sometimes denoted as .

e. Set Product/Cross Product/Cartesian Product

The set product of two non-empty sets A and B, denoted by , is the set of all possible ordered

pairs where x is in A and y is in B. Symbolically,

Note:
i. is not necessarily the same as ; that is, the set product is not commutative.
ii. If a set A has m elements and another set B has n elements, then the number of possible ordered
pairs in is mn.

Examples: