MATHEMATICS FORM 3

SETS

COMPLIMENTS
OBJECTIVES
By the end of the tutorial you must be able to identify and list elements of a
complimentary set.

INTRODUCTION
The work prior to this on sets deals with how to list or describe a set. This section looks at
another type of a set. A compliment of a set is the set that contains elements not found in
a given set but in the universal set. For example if the universal set is all Zimbabweans and
P is a set of Zimbabweans who are in the country then all Zimbabweans outside the
country form the compliment of set P’.
 COMPLIMENTARY SETS

The symbol for compliment is like a power of one for the set, in the previous
example P compliment is written as .
Example 1
The universal set contains whole numbers from 1 to 10 inclusive. Subsets A and B
are described as follows: A is a set of prime numbers and B is a set of square
numbers. List the elements of
a)A’ b) B’ c) (AB)’ d) A’A e) A’A
Solution
a) b) c)
d){ } or e)
WORKSHEET

1) If P ={1; 2; 3;…..;8; 9;10} and Q is a subset of P. If Q is a set of odd numbers, find

Q’.
2) Given that the universal set is and B are subsets. A= and B = . Find the
elements of the following sets. a)B b) A’ B’ c) B’ A’
3) Write in set notation the relationship between a set B and its compliment.
4)
A 2 B
3 7 6 5 11 4 13 1
8 9 10
Question 4 contd
Using the Venn diagram list the elements of:
a) A’ b) B’ c) A’B’ d) (A B)’
WORKSHEET CONTD

5) P = and Q = are subsets of the set M =. List the elements of:

a)(PQ)’ b)( P Q)’ c)P’ d) Q’

ANSWERS
If your answers are different from the ones below check the example and do the
work again.
1) Q’ =
2) A) b) c)
3) B B’ = universal set.
ANSWERS contd

4 a) b)
c) d)
5) a) b)
c) d)

CONCLUSION
The compliment of set and its set combined give the universal set and the
intersection of the set and its compliment give a null set or an empty set.