Sets
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
Eindhoven University of Technology
2012 – 2013
i
1 Sets 1
1 Sets
If you read this document, you will become familiar with some concepts and
notations related to sets. You must be able to use the notations at a basic
level.
1.1 A set is a collection of well defined objects. If a is in a set V , then we call
a an element of V , and denote this by a 2 V . If an object b is not in a set
V , then b is not an element of V and we write b 62 V .
To define and/or describe sets we can use curly brackets. If a set A consists
of the numbers 1, 2 and 3, then we can write this as
A = {1, 2, 3}.
Notice that 2 2 A, but 4 62 A.
For sets with only finitely many elements we can list these elements between
curly brackets, however for sets with infinitely many elements we can only
use this notation if the elements have a common structure. For example,
suppose
B = {all positive even integers}
and
C = {2, 4, 6, 8, . . .}.
Notice that B = C.
A set is completely determined by its elements. Repeating an element does
not play a role. For example, {1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 3}, {3, 2, 1} and {1, 2, 3} are the
same sets!
1.2 Subsets
If all elements of a set A are also elements of a set B, then we call A a subset
of B. This is denoted by A ⇢ B or A ✓ B.
For two sets A and B we have A = B if and only if A ✓ B and B ✓ A.
The empty set ; is the set with no elements. So, ; = {}.
1.3 Some well known sets
The set of natural numbers
N = {1, 2, 3, 4, . . .}.
The set of integers
Z = {. . . , 2, 1, 0, 1, 2, . . .},
1 Sets 2
The set of all rational numbers
m
Q = {all fractions with m, n 2 Z and n 6= 0}.
n
The set of real numbers R consists of all a of the form m.d1 d2 d3 . . . p
where
m is an integer and dk , k = 1, 2, . . . are decimals. For example, 2 =
1.41421356 . . . and 0 = 0.00000 . . . are reals.
The form [Link] 1 d2 dp
3 . . . is called the decimal expansion of a.
Numbers like 2, 3 and ⇡ are not rational, but they are in R.
Notice that ; ⇢ N ⇢ Z ⇢ Q ⇢ R.
1.4 A subset B of a set A consisting of elements x satisfying some particular
conditions '(x) can be described using curly brackets:
{x 2 A | '(x)}.
For example,
{x 2 Z|x > 0} = N,
and
{a 2 N | ais a multiple of 2} = {2, 4, 6, 8, . . .}.
1.5 The real line and intervals
The set R is often represented as the “real line”. For two numbers a, b 2 R
we either have a < b, a = b or a > b.
Intervals of R are subsets of R represented by a line segment of the real line.
We can distinguish four types of intervals for given a < b:
• [a, b] = {x 2 R|a x b} bounded and closed;
• (a, b] = {x 2 R|a < x b} bounded, open at the left and closed at the
right;
• [a, b) = {x 2 R|a x < b} bounded, closed at the left and open at the
right;
• (a, b) = {x 2 R|a < x < b}, bounded and open.
For every a 2 R there are also four types of unbounded intervals:
• [a, 1) = {x 2 R|x a}, unbounded at the right and closed at the left;
• (a, 1) = {x 2 R|x > a}, unbounded at the right and open at the left;
1 Sets 3
• ( 1, a] = {x 2 R|x a}, unbounded at the left and closed at the
right;
• ( 1, a) = {x 2 R|x < a}, unbounded at the left and open.
The set R is sometimes denoted by ( 1, 1).
Examples:
(1, 3) ⇢ (1, 3],
p
10 2/ [0, 3],
x 2 R x2 4x + 3 < 0 = (1, 3).
Intervals can be depicted on the real line:
(1, 2]
2 1 0 1 2 3 4
[ 1, 1)
2 1 0 1 2 3 4
Figure 1: Two intervals drawn at the real line.
1.6 Operations The union of two (or more) sets A and B is the set consisting
of the elements together, i.e., of all elements that are in A or in B. The
union of A and b is denoted by A [ B.
Suppose A, B and C are sets then we have
• A⇢A[B
• A [ B [ C is the set of all elements that are in A or B or C.
• A[;=A
• A[A=A
• [1, 3] [ [2, 5) = [1, 5).
The intersection of two sets A and B is the set consisting of the elements
that are in A and in B. It is denoted by A \ B. Suppose A, B and C are
sets then we have
1 Sets 4
• A\B ⇢A
• A \ B \ C is the set of all elements that are in A and in B and in C.
• A \ B = {x 2 A [ B|x 2 A and x 2 B}
• A\;=;
• [1, 2] \ [2, 3] = {2}
The di↵erence of two sets A and B is the set of all elements from A that are
not in B. The di↵erence is denoted by A\B.
For sets A and B we have
• A\B = {x 2 A|x 2
/ B}
• R\{2} = ( 1, 2) [ (2, 1)
• [2, 5]\{5} = [2, 5)
• R\{2, 7} = ( 1, 2) [ (2, 7) [ (7, 1)
• A\A = ;
Let
U = {x 2 R| 3 < x 5} = ( 3, 5]
V = {x 2 R|x 2},
W = {x 2 R|x 2} = ( 1, 2].
Then
U [ V = {x 2 R|x > 3} = ( 3, 1),
U \ V = {x 2 R|2 x 5} = [2, 5]
V [ W = {x 2 R|x 2_x 2} = ( 1, 2] [ [2, 1)
V \ W = {x 2 R|x 2^x 2} = ( 1, 2] \ [2, 1) = ;.
1.7 Logical operators
The operator _ denotes the logical “or”. So, a _ b is true if a is true or b is
true.
The operator ^ denotes the logical “and”. So, a ^ b is true if both a and b
are true.
1 Sets 5
1.8 The real plane
The set R2 denotes the set of all pairs (a, b) of real numbers a and b. We
often identify this set with the real plane. Therefore we often call elements
from R2 points.
Warning: The notation for points and open intervals is the same. So, (1, 2)
can denote an interval but also a point from R2 .
We end with some examples of subsets of the real plane.
• The line y = x is the set {(x, y) 2 R2 | x = y}.
• De unit circle with the center at the origin (0, 0) is the set {(x, y) 2
R2 | x2 + y 2 = 1}.
• The set (x, y) 2 R2 |x2 + 2x + y 2 4y = 4 is the set of points of
the circle with center ( 1, 2) and radius 1.
1.9 The real space
The set R3 denotes the set of triples (a, b, c) of real numbers a, b and c. We
can identify this set with the set of points in real space. Again elements
from this set are called points.
Some examples of subsets of R3 are:
• The plane given by the equation x + y + z = 1 is the set
(x, y, z) 2 R3 x + y + z = 1 .
• The unit ball with center at (0, 0, 0) is the set
(x, y, z) 2 R3 |x2 + y 2 + z 2 = 1 .
• The set (x, y, z) 2 R x2 + y 2 = 1 is the set of points on a cylinder
parallel to the z-axis.