GCSE Sets

Dr J Frost (jfrost@tiffin.kingston.sch.uk)
www.drfrostmaths.com
@DrFrostMaths

Last modified: 18th September 2017

What is a set?

In maths, it’s often useful to represent a collection of items.

We use curly braces to indicate a set of items...

{ − 4 , 1 ,3 }

! A set is a collection of items with 2 properties:

?
a. It doesn’t contain duplicates.
b. The order of the elements does not matter.
?
(but we usually write the items in ascending order)
What is a set?
Is it a set?

{ −3.5 , 2 , 9 } False True

{ 4 ,5 ,5 ,6 } False True

{1}
A set with one thing in it is
known as a singleton. False True
It’s possible to

{{1,2 } , {3,4 }} have a set of sets!

False True
{𝑟𝑒𝑑,𝑏𝑙𝑢𝑒,𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑛}
Sets need not consist of numbers.
False True

Are these sets the same?

{ 3,1,2 }={1,2,3 } False True
Finite Sets vs Infinite Sets

{ − 4 , 1 ,3 } The examples with seen have

been finitely large sets.

But it’s also possible to have sets which

are infinitely large…

(At A Level and beyond,

“the set of all positive integers the symbol is used for
(whole numbers)” such a set)

“the set of all odd numbers” Far far beyond the syllabus:
We could construct such a set using

which means “all possible numbers

of the form , where is any integer”
The Empty Set

We can also have a set with nothing in it!

(think of it as an empty bag)

It is known as the empty set:

∅
?
Fro Fact: This is (as
far as I know) the
only Scandinavian
letter used in maths.

We’ll see why it’s useful next lesson.

Venn Diagrams
Venn Diagrams are a way of showing the items in each set.
What does this region represent? What does this region represent?
? not in .
The items in but ? in .
The items in and

𝜉
𝐴 𝐵
6
1 2
8
3
10 0 −1
7
What does this region represent? Why the rectangular box?
It represents the set of all items we’re interested in.
? in nor .
The items neither
?
We use the special symbol (Greek letter “xi”)
Example

𝜉
whole numbers
from 1 to 15
set of all prime
numbers
𝐴
set of all numbers
one less than a
power of 2

set of all square

numbers
(Click to move!)

1 2 3

4 5 6
𝐶
7 8 9 15
𝐵
Test Your Understanding

𝜉
whole numbers
from 1 to 10
set of all cube
numbers
𝐴 10
8 2
set of all odd
numbers
4
set of all multiples
of 3
1
? Venn Diagram
Bonus: If we extended
to include more
positive integers,
5 9
what’s the smallest
number that would 7 3 6

𝐶
appear in all three of ?
27

? 𝐵
Further Examples
1 2
Construct a Venn Diagram to Construct a Venn Diagram to
show these sets. show these sets.

𝝃 𝝃 𝑨
𝑨 𝑩 3 𝑩
3
2 4? 5 2 1?

1 6 4 5 6
Any number in is also in . It would therefore be a good
idea to draw inside to show this relationship.
Elements of Sets and Subsets
An ‘element’ or ‘member’ is an item in a set.

! means that 2 is a member of the set {1, 2},

i.e. it belongs to it. Fro Note: is a special
form of the Greek letter
means that 3 is not a member of epsilon. It just means “is a
member of”.
the set.
means that set “is a subset of” .
It means anything in must also be in (and )

True or false?
False True
(where is the set of
all prime numbers) False True
False True
False True
 Exercise 1
1 4
Construct a Venn Diagram to show these sets.
You have two sets and and . Draw a Venn Diagram
(without any numbers) that indicates the relationship
between the sets.

𝝃 𝑨 𝝃
𝑩
?𝑩
4
5 67? 8
𝑨
2 You have three sets and and . Draw a Venn Diagram
Construct a Venn Diagram to show these sets. 5 (without any numbers) that indicates the relationship
between the sets.

𝝃 𝝃 𝑩
𝑨 𝑪
2 𝑨 ?
7
3 8? 1
4 5 6 The power set of a set is the set of all possible subsets, including the
𝑩 𝑪 N empty set and itself. E.g.

a) Determine
3 𝑨52 4
set of all primes
b)
?
Determine how many members has for a set of of size . For
triangular numbers
1 less than multiple of 4 ?7
10 3 8
each possible subset, each of the members of the original set
Construct a Venn Diagram for
these sets. 𝑩
16
𝑪 possible subsets. ?
can either be included or not included. That’s 2 possibilities, so
#2 :: Venn Diagrams involving Frequencies
Sometimes we just have A vet surveys 100 of her clients. She finds that
one number in each 25 own dogs, 15 own dogs and cats, 11 own dogs and tropical fish, 53
region, representing own cats, 10 own cats and tropical fish, 7 own dogs, cats and tropical
fish, 40 own tropical fish.
the number of items in
that region, rather than Fill in this Venn Diagram, and hence answer the following questions:
the items themselves. a)
b)
Fro Tip: The trick is to start c)
from the centre of the
diagram and work outwards. 𝝃 𝑪
35
? 11
?
a)
b)
?
8
? 3
?
c) ? 𝑫 7
?
? 𝑭
6 4 26
?
? ?
Dr Frost’s cat
“Pippin”
#2 :: Venn Diagrams involving Frequencies
Conditional Probabilities

Given that a randomly chosen person owns a cat, what’s the probability they
own a dog?
Now our choice is being restricted just to those who owns cats (i.e. 53).
Thus the probability is . ?
𝝃
𝑪
35 11

8 3
𝑫 7
26 𝑭
6 4

Dr Frost’s cat
“Pippin”
 Test Your Understanding
Edexcel S1 Jan 2012 Q6
The following shows the results of a survey on the
types of exercise taken by a group of 100 people.
65 run 48 swim
60 cycle 40 run and swim
30 swim and cycle 35 run and cycle 25 do
all three
  ?
(a) Draw a Venn Diagram to represent these data.
(4)
Find the probability that a randomly selected
person from the survey ?
  ?
(b) takes none of these types of exercise,
(c) swims but does not run, (2)
(2) ?
3
(d) takes at least two of these types of exercise.
13
(2) ?
Jason is one of the above group. Given that Jason
runs,
(e) find the probability that he swims but does not
cycle. (3)
Exercise 2 (on provided sheet)

Question 1
[JMC 2002 Q11] The Pythagoras School of Music has
100 students. Of these, 60 are in the band and 20 are
in the orchestra. Given that 12 students are in both the
band and the orchestra, how many are in neither the
band nor the orchestra?

B Orc
32
48 12 8 ? students

32
 Exercise 2 (on provided sheet)

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?
?
?
Exercise 2 (on provided sheet)

?
?
?
Exercise 2 (on provided sheet)

?
?
?
 Exercise 2 (on provided sheet)

?
?
?
?
?
Exercise 2 (on provided sheet)

a?

b?
c?
d?

e?
 Exercise 2 (on provided sheet)

a?

b?
c?

d?

e?
Exercise 2 (on provided sheet)

N [SMC 2011 Q17] Jamie conducted a survey on the food preferences of pupils at a
school and discovered that 70% of the pupils like pears, 75% like oranges, 80% like
bananas and 85% like apples.
What is the smallest possible percentage of pupils who like all four of these
fruits?

A. At least 10%
B. At least 15%
C. At least 20%
D. At least 25%
E. At least 70%

?
For now just think of
the symbol as
meaning “and”. We’ll
see it next lesson.
#3 Combining Sets
We have various operations on numbers, such as addition: and
multiplication:
So are there similar operations on sets? Yes!

𝝃
𝑨
9 𝑩
2
1 3 5
4 6
7
8 10

𝐴∩ 𝐵={3,4
? } 𝐴∪ 𝐵={1,2,3,4,5,6,7
? }
! is the intersection of and ! is the union of and
It means “the things in A and in B” It means “the things in A or in B”*
* Things in A or B also includes things in both. Things in one but not
the other is known as “exclusive or”. You do not need to know this!
#3 Combining Sets
We have various operations on numbers, such as addition: and
multiplication:
So are there similar operations on sets? Yes!

𝝃
𝑨
9 𝑩
2
1 3 5
4 6
7
8 10

𝐴 ′ ={5,6,7,8,9,10
? }
 is the complement of
It means “the things not in A”
Quickfire Examples

𝝃𝑨

𝜉={1,2,3 ,…,10 }
𝑩
𝑎
𝑒 𝑏 𝑐
𝑑

𝐴∪𝐵= { 2, 3, 4, 6 , 8, 9 ,1 0 }
?

𝐴∩𝐵={𝑏, 𝑑}
? ?
? ?
? ?
read this as “A
? and not B” ?
? ?
?
? There is nothing that is
“not in A and not in B”!
is the empty set, as
seen earlier.
Test Your Understanding (on provided sheet)

1 2

all whole numbers

factors of 60
multiples of 3
List the members of the set .

?
𝐴∩ 𝐵={3,6,12,15,30,60 }
a

?
10,12,14,15,16,18

7
?
10
Matching Game! (on provided sheet)

Match the set expressions with the indicated regions.

𝝃𝑨 𝝃𝑨 Click an expression
𝝃𝑨
below to reveal.

𝐴∩ 𝐵 ′
𝑩 𝑪 𝑩 𝑪 𝑩 𝑪 𝐴∩ 𝐵′ ∩𝐶 ′
𝝃𝑨 𝝃𝑨 𝝃𝑨
𝐴∪ 𝐵 𝐴′ ∩ 𝐵 ′

𝐴∩ 𝐵
𝑩 𝑪 𝑩 𝑪 𝑩 𝑪
𝝃𝑨 𝝃𝑨 𝝃𝑨 𝐴∩(𝐵∩ 𝐶)′
( 𝐴 ∪ 𝐵 ) ∩ ( 𝐴 ∩ 𝐵∩ 𝐶 )′

𝐴∩ 𝐵 ∩𝐶 ′
𝑩 𝑪 𝑩 𝑪 𝑩 𝑪
( 𝐴∪ 𝐵) ∩𝐶 ′
Cardinality of Sets
! The cardinality of a set is the size of the set.
Use or for the cardinality/size of a set .

𝝃
𝑨
9 𝑩
2
1 3 5
4 6
7
8 10

𝑛 ( 𝐴 )=4
?
?
?
?
Exercise 3 (on provided sheet)

1 𝝃𝑨 𝑩 2 𝝃𝑨 𝑩
4 8 13 𝑝 𝑞𝑟 𝑡
1 11 𝑠𝑥 𝑢
6 𝑤
𝑣
List the numbers in: 𝑦 𝑪
a ?
b ? Determine the sets:
c ? a ?
d ? b ?
c ?
e Given that a number is d ?
chosen at random, find the e ?
probability it is in set . f ?
? g Given that a number is chosen at
random from the set , find the
probability it is in set .

?
Exercise 3 (on provided sheet)

3 and are two sets such that: 4

Determine the sets:
Form a Venn diagram,
where the number in each a ?
region is the number of
elements in it.
b ?
c ?
5
all prime numbers
all multiples of 6

𝝃𝑨 𝑩 Determine:
a ?
11 3
? 5 b ?
1 6
all even numbers
all factors of 8

Determine:
a ? b ?
c ?
Exercise 3 (on provided sheet)

7 Construct a Venn Diagram for

sets (without numbers) such N are sets such that:
that:
a Determine .

By adding , we’re double counting regions

𝝃 𝑪 which overlap once, and triple counting
𝑨 ? where all three sets overlap. Subtracting ,
𝑩 now all regions are counted once, but we’re
missing , so add it back on.
b 𝐴 ⊂ 𝐵 , 𝐴 ∩ 𝐶= ∅
This is known as the inclusion-exclusion
𝝃 𝑪 principle.
𝑨
?
𝑩
?