Lesson 1 Sets and basic notations

The basic notion of set, whose importance in mathematics was first considered by George Canton (1845 – 1918), is
fundamental to the different branches of mathematics. Because it is impossible to give a precise definition of set, we shall rely on
our experience to consider the notion of set. Hence, we may think of a set as a collection (or aggregate) of objects of any sort,
restricting ourselves to those objects that are clearly described so that there is no question as to whether a certain object does not
belong to set.

Example:
a. The set of students in the freshmen class at your school.
b. The set of positive integers from 1 to 4.
c. The set of distinct letters in the word “Philippines”.

Let us recall that if an object belongs to the set, it is called a member or element of the set denoted by the symbol E.
Capital letters are used to name set.

Illustrations:

If a is an element of set A, we write aA, or If a belongs to the set A, we write aA. Similarly, if a does not belong to A or a
is not a member of A we write aA.

Definition 1.

Two sets A and B are said to be equal if they have precisely the same elements. In this case we write A = B, otherwise A 
B.

Illustration:
Let A denotes the set with elements 1, 4, 3 and 2; and B denotes the set of counting numbers from 1 to 4.

Here A = B.

In general, we say that a set is finite if it is possible to write down a complete list of elements of the set; otherwise the set is
said to be infinite.
The two most common methods for describing a set are:
a) The roster or tabulation method wherein the elements of a set are listed and enclosed in braces.
b) The rule or defining property method indicate a set by enclosing in braces a descriptive phrases, and agreeing that
those objects, and only those, which have the described property are elements of the set.

Illustrations:

Set F = 1, 2, 3, 4 = 4, 1, 3, 2

= counting numbers from 1 to 4
= x such that x is counting number less than five. “or”
F = x/x is counting numbers less than five the vertical bar is read “such that”.

Definition 2:

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.

If A = 1, 2, 3, 4and B = a, b, c, d

We can associate each element of A with an element of B as:

A = 1, 2, 3, 4

B = a, b, c, d

Definition 3

Two sets A and B are said to be equivalent (or the same size) if there is a one-to-one correspondence between their
elements.
Remarks: / Remember
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If two sets are equal, then they must be equivalent, but the converse of this statement is not true.
 Lesson 2 Subsets and Counting

Discussion

Every element of the set of A of distinct letters in “Philippines” is an element of the set B set letters of the alphabet. The set
C of even counting numbers is included in the set D of counting numbers.

Definition 4.

The set A is said to be a subset of the set of B if every element of A is an element of B.

The symbol for this notion is AB (read as “A is subset of B” or “A is contained in B”)

This is
written as AB if and only if xA implies XB. If there is an element of A which is not in B then we say that AB which is
read as A is not a subset of B.

Illustrations:

A = 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 then AB

If AB but BA, then there is at least one element of B which is not in A, then we say that A is a proper subsets of B.

Illustrations:

B = 1, 2, 3, 4, A = 2, 4

AB but BA, hence A is a proper subset of B.

Remarks: / Remember

There is a set which has no element denoted by , but it is considered as a subset of any set.

Hence it can be said that B, also A.

Definitions 5:

Two sets A and B are said to be disjoint if they have no elements in common. For distinct sets A and B, if XA, then XB
and if XB, then XA

Illustrations:

Let E = set of even counting numbersand

B = set of odd counting numbers, clearly, sets E and D are disjoint.

Definition 6:

The cardinal number of a finite set A is the unique counting number n such that the elements of A are in one-to-one
correspondence with the elements of the set counting numbers from 1 to n. The symbol is n(A) read as “n of A” or “the cardinal
number of A”.

The cardinal number of the empty set  is 0, that is, n() = 0.

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Note: 0 is not considered to be counting number.

Illustration:

A =2, 4, so n(A) = 2

B = 1, 2, 3, 4, hence n(B) = 4

Definition 7:

If A is a subset of a universal set U, then the complement of A is defined to be the set of elements of U which are not in A.
The symbol is A’, read as “A prime” or “the complement of A.”
In set builder notation, A’ = x/x  U and x  A

Illustrations:

A = the letters in the English alphabet

B = the set of distinct letters in the word Philippines”.

 We know that n(A) = 26 and n(B) = 7
Hence, the complement of B (B’) is composed of 19 letters.

Another Illustration:

C = the set of counting numbers less than 10

D =the set of even positive numbers less than 10

So n( C ) = 9, n (D) = 4

Hence n(D’) = 5 and D’ = 1, 3, 5, 7, 9

If A = counting numbers from 1 to 7, B = even counting numbers from 2 to 6, and C = 1, 3, 5, 7, then we may say
that the set A can be formed by uniting the set B with the set C. whenever two clubs or social groups merge, we have an instance
of this operation of building a new set by forming the union of two sets.

Definition 8:

The union of two sets A and B is defined to be the set of elements that belong to A or to B.

The symbol is , so AB is read as “A union B” and write AB = x/x A or xB

AB is the set of elements which are in A or in B or in both.

Illustration 1:

For the sets A, B, and C above, we can write

A = B  C. Note: we can also write A = CB since the order in which we enumerate the elements of the union does not
affect the set. We say then that the operation of set union is commutative.

Note further that n(B) = 3, n(C) =4 and n(BC) = 7 = n(B) + n(C).

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Illustration 2:

If P = 1, 2, Q = 1, 3, 4, and R = 1, 4, 5, then PQ = 1, 2, 3, 4, and QR = 1, 3, 4, 5, so P (QR) = 1, 2, 3, 4,
5= (PQ) R.

Generally, if A and B are two disjoint finite sets, then the union AB is also finite and n(AB) = n(A) + n(B).

Definition 9:

The interaction of two sets A and B id defined to be the set of all elements that belong to both A and B.

The symbol is  read as “intersection”. So AB (to be read “A interaction B”) is written as AB = x/x A and xB

Illustration:

If P = 1, 2, Q = 1, 3, 4, then PQ = 1. Hence, generally, for any sets A and B, AB = BA; that is, the operation of
interaction is commutative.

Moreover, if P = 1, 2, Q = 1, 3, 4 and R = 1, 4, 5

PQ = 1, QR = 1, 4 and
(PQ)  R = 1 = P(QR).

If two A and B are disjoints, then AB =  since there are no elements which are both in A and in B.

In equal, for any finite sets A and B, the counting formula is:

n(AB) = n(A) + N(B) – n(AB)

Another operation is that of set product. This is seen in two dimensional coordinate systems. This situation occurs when we want
to list the ordered pairs that give possible choices, one from a set A and another form a set B. We say that the ordered pairs (a,b)
and (x,y) are equal if a = x and b= y . thus (1,2) = (1, 2) but (1,2)  (2,1).

Definition 10:
 The set product or Cartesian product of two sets A and B is the set of all possible ordered pairs (a,b) where a is in A and b
is in B. The symbol is A x B. Hence,

A X B = (a, b) / aA, bB

Illustration:

If C = 1, 2 and D = x, y, then

CXD = ( 1,x), (1,y), (2,x), (2,y).
Also D X C = (x,1), (x,2), (y,1), (y,2) so the order of the factors is important. It is clear that the operation of set product is
not commulative.

If C = 1, 2, then C x C = (1,1), (1,2), (2,1), (2,2)

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Activity 1

1. Use the roster method to write the set.

a) The counting numbers less than 10.
Answer: A= {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9}

b) The set of distinct letters in the world “Mississippi.”

Answer: A= {M,i,s,s,i,s,s,i,p,p,i}

2. Use the rule method to write the set.

a) A = -1, 1
Answer: {counting number from -1 to 1}

b) B = 2, 4, 6, 8
Answer: {even number between 2 to 8}

3. For each set, tell which is finite and which is infinite.

a) The set whose elements are the numbers 1 and 3.
Answer: Finite

b) The set of points on a given line.

Answer: Infinte

4. For each of the sets listed, tell which are equivalent and which are equal.
a) The set of distinct letters in the word “indian”.
b) The set of distinct letters in the word “naid.”
c) The set of distinct letters in the word “tain.”
d) The set of letters in the word ‘write.”
e) The first five counting numbers.

5. List all the subsets of a,b (There are 22 such subsets)

Answer: {a}
{b}
{a,b}
{ }
6. If A = a,b,c and B = a,b,c,d, which of the following are true?
a. bB True e. B False
b. A True f. AB True
c. bB False

7. if aA, bB, xD, and BD

a. Is a  D? No
b. Is b  D? Yes
c. Is a  B? No
d. Can there be an element in D which is an element of both A and B? No

8. If E = even counting numbers and 0 = odd counting numbers, then which of the following are true?

a) (2,3)  E x 0 True d) (2,0) E x 0 False

b) (1, 19)  0 x 0 True e) 2 x 0  E x 0 True
c) (2,2)  0 x E False

If A and B are finite nonempty sets, then what can you say about n(AxB)?

Say F = set of Football team, B =set of Basketball team, T = set of track team decide to form a set of varsity club
denoted by V. Given that n(F) = 25, n(B) = 12, n(T) = 30, n(FT) = 6, n(BT) = 19, n(FB) = 11, what is (n(V)?

Tell whether each of the following statement is true of false for any two sets A and B.
a) A is always contained in AB. True
b) B is always contains AB. True
If A  B, then
c) A  B always is equal to A. False
d) A  B always is equal to B. False