CHAPTER 1
SET THEORY
Set Theory starts very simply: it examines whether an object belongs, or does not belong,
to a set of objects which has been described in some non-ambiguous way. In this chapter, we
will cover the different aspects of Set Theory.
German mathematician G. Cantor introduced the concept of sets. He had defined a set
as a collection of definite and distinguishable objects selected by the means of certain rules or
description. A set may be viewed as any well-defined collection of objects, called the elements
or members of the set. Capital letters were used to denote sets, and lowercase letters to denote
elements of sets. Also, a set can be written explicitly by listing its elements using set bracket.
Sets can be represented in two ways: Roster or Tabular Form and Set Builder Notation.
In 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}
In 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)}A={x:p(x)}
Example 1 − The set {a,e,i,o,u}{a,e,i,o,u} is written as −
A={x:x is a vowel in English alphabet}A={x:x is a vowel in English alphabet}
Example 2 − The set {1,3,5,7,9}{1,3,5,7,9} is written as −
B={x:1≤x<10 and (x%2)≠0}
There are Some Important Sets:
N − the set of all natural numbers = {1,2,3,4,.....}{1,2,3,4,.....}
Z − the set of all integers = {.....,−3,−2,−1,0,1,2,3,.....}{.....,−3,−2,−1,0,1,2,3,.....}
Z+ − the set of all positive integers
Q − the set of all rational numbers
R − the set of all real numbers
W − the set of all whole numbers
There are also Types of Sets
Finite Set
A set which contains a definite number of elements is called a finite set.
Infinite Set
A set which contains infinite number of elements is called an infinite set.
Subset
A set X is a subset of set Y (Written as X⊆YX⊆Y) if every element of X is an element of set Y.
Proper Subset
The term “proper subset” can be defined as “subset of but not equal to”.
Universal Set
It is a collection of all elements in a particular context or application. All the sets in that context
or application are essentially subsets of this universal set. Universal sets are represented as UU.
Empty Set or Null Set
An empty set contains no elements. It is denoted by ∅∅. As the number of elements in an empty
set is finite, empty set is a finite set. The cardinality of empty set or null set is zero.
Singleton Set or Unit Set
Singleton set or unit set contains only one element. A singleton set is denoted by {s}{s}.
Equal Set
If two sets contain the same elements they are said to be equal.
Equivalent Set
If the cardinalities of two sets are same, they are called equivalent sets.
Overlapping Set
Two sets that have at least one common element are called overlapping sets.
In case of overlapping sets −
n(A∪B)=n(A)+n(B)−n(A∩B)n(A∪B)=n(A)+n(B)−n(A∩B)
n(A∪B)=n(A−B)+n(B−A)+n(A∩B)n(A∪B)=n(A−B)+n(B−A)+n(A∩B)
n(A)=n(A−B)+n(A∩B)n(A)=n(A−B)+n(A∩B)
n(B)=n(B−A)+n(A∩B)n(B)=n(B−A)+n(A∩B)
Disjoint Set
Two sets A and B are called disjoint sets if they do not have even one element in common.
Therefore, disjoint sets have the following properties −
n(A∩B)=∅n(A∩B)=∅
n(A∪B)=n(A)+n(B)n(A∪B)=n(A)+n(B)
Venn diagram, invented in 1880 by John Venn, is a schematic diagram that shows all
possible logical relations between different mathematical sets.
Set Operations include Set Union, Set Intersection, Set Difference, Complement of Set, and
Cartesian Product.
Set Union
The union of sets A and B (denoted by A∪BA∪B) is the set of elements which are in A, in B, or
in both A and B. Hence, A∪B={x|x∈A OR x∈B}A∪B={x|x∈A OR x∈B}.
Example − If A={10,11,12,13}A={10,11,12,13} and B = {13,14,15}{13,14,15},
then A∪B={10,11,12,13,14,15}A∪B={10,11,12,13,14,15}. (The common element occurs only
once)
Set Intersection
The intersection of sets A and B (denoted by A∩BA∩B) is the set of elements which are in both
A and B. Hence, A∩B={x|x∈A AND x∈B}A∩B={x|x∈A AND x∈B}.
Example − If A={11,12,13}A={11,12,13} and B={13,14,15}B={13,14,15},
then A∩B={13}A∩B={13}.
Set Difference/ Relative Complement
The set difference of sets A and B (denoted by A–BA–B) is the set of elements which are only
in A but not in B. Hence, A−B={x|x∈A AND x∉B}A−B={x|x∈A AND x∉B}.
Example − If A={10,11,12,13}A={10,11,12,13} and B={13,14,15}B={13,14,15},
then (A−B)={10,11,12}(A−B)={10,11,12} and (B−A)={14,15}(B−A)={14,15}. Here, we can
see (A−B)≠(B−A)(A−B)≠(B−A)
Complement of a Set
The complement of a set A (denoted by A′A′) is the set of elements which are not in set A.
Hence, A′={x|x∉A}A′={x|x∉A}.
More specifically, A′=(U−A)A′=(U−A) where UU is a universal set which contains all objects.
Example − If A={x|x belongstosetofoddintegers}A={x|x belongstosetofoddintegers} then A
′={y|y doesnotbelongtosetofoddintegers}A′={y|y doesnotbelongtosetofoddintegers}