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Set: A Set is a well-defined collection of distinct objects.
Here in this definition well defined means all the objects in this collection are collected in such a
way that they have one quality in common due to which they are collected and distinct means no
repetition of elements is there.
Example: The set V of all vowels in English alphabet can written as V={a,e,i,o,u}
Example: The set of odd positive integers less than 10 can be expressed by O={1,3,5,7,9}
Example: The set of positive integers less than 100 can be expressed by {1,2,3,…,99}
Equal Sets: Two sets are equal if and only if they have same elements.
Example: The sets {1,3,5} and {3,5,1] are equal.
Example: Draw a venn diagram to represent V, the set of vowels in the English alphabet.
ae
i o u
Subset: The set A is said to be a subset of B if and only if every element of A is also an
element of B. We use the notation A⊆B To indicate that A is a subset of the set B.
∀ x ¿B)
B
A
Note: Empty/null set ∅ is the subset of every set.
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Note: there are two types of subsets
i) proper subset ii) improper subset
Improper subset: ∅ and A(itself) are the improper subsets of A
Proper subset: other than ∅ and A all the subsets of A are called proper subsets of A.
Note: Empty/null set ∅ is the subset of every set.
Cardinality: Let S be a set .If there are exactly n distinct elements in S where n is a
nonnegative integer ,we say that S is a finite set and that n is the cardinality of S .The cardinality
of S is denoted by |S|.
Example: Let A be the set of odd positive integers less than 10.Then |A|=5.
Example: Let S be the set of letters in the English alphabet. Then |S|=26.
Example: since the set ∅ has no elements so |∅ |=0.
Infinite Set: A set is said to be infinite if it is not finite.
Power set: The set of all subsets of a set A is called power set of set A and is denoted by
P(A).
Note: If a set A has n elements then then P(A) has 2nelements i.e. if| A |=n then | P( A)|= 2n
Example: What is the power set of {0,1,2}?
Solution: P(A)={∅ ,{0},{1},{2},{0,1},{0,2},{1,2},A}
Example: What is the power set of Empty set? What is the powers set of {∅ }?
Solution: P(∅)={∅}
And P({∅})={∅,{∅}}
Cartesian Products: Let A and B be two sets. The cartesian product of A and B denoted
by A×B is the set of all ordered pairs (a,b) where a∈A and b∈B.Hence
A×B={(a,b) |a∈A ⋀b∈B }
Note: ¿ A × B∨¿ =| A |×| B|
Example: What is the cartesian product of A={1,2} and B={a,b,c}?
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Solution: The cartesian product of A and B is
A×B={(1,a),(1,b),(1,c),(2,a) (2,b),(2,c)} and
B×A={(a,1),(a,2),(b,1),(b,2),(c,1),(c,2)}
Example: What is the cartesian product of A={0,1} and B={1,2} and {0,1,2}?
Solution:
A×B×C ={(0,1,0)(0,1,1),(0,1,2),(0,2,0),(0,2,1),(0,2,2), (1,1,0)(1,1,1),(1,1,2),(1,2,0),(1,2,1),
(1,2,2)}
Exercise 1.4:
Q1: List the members of the following sets:
a) {x|x is a real number such that x 2=1}
Solution:{-1,1}
b) {x|x is a positive integer less than 12}
Solution:{1,2,3……,11}
c) {x|x is the square of an integer and x<100}
Solution:{12 ,22 , 32 ,… , 92 }
d) {x|x is an integer and x 2=2}
Solution:{}
Q2:Use the set builder notation to give a description of each of the following sets
a) {0,3,6,9}
={x|x ¿ 3n :n=0,1,2,3}
b) {-3,-2,-1,0,1,2,3}
={ x|x ∈Z ∧ -3≤ x ≤3}
c) {m,n,o,p}
{ x|x is an alphabet between m and p}
Q3: Determine whether each of the following pairs of sets is equal
a) {1,3,3,3,5,5,5,},{5,3,1}
Solution: equal sets as they contain same elements
b) {{1}},{1,{1}}
Solution: not equal because the first set contains only one element {1} and the second
contains two elements 1 and {1}
c) ∅,{∅}
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Solution: not equal as the first set does not contain any elements and the other contains
one element ∅
Q4: suppose that A={2,4,6},B={2,6},C={4,6} and D={4,6,8}.determine which of these sets are
subsets of which other of these sets.
Solution: B⊆ A, C⊆ A, C⊆ D
Q5: For each of the following sets, determine whether 2 is an element of that set
a){x∈R|x is and integer greater than 1}
Ans: 2 belongs to the set define above
b){ x∈R|x is the square of an integer }
Ans:2 does not belong to the set define above as there exists no such x whose square is 2.
c){2,{2}}
Ans: 2 belongs to the set define above
d){{2},{{2}}}
Ans:2 does not belong to the set define above
e){{2},{2,{2}}}
Ans:2 does not belong to the set define above
f){{{2}}}
Ans:2 does not belong to the set define above
Q7:Determine whether each of the following statements is true or false
a) x∈{x}
Ans: true
b) {x}⊆{x}
Ans: true
c) {x}∈{x}
Ans: False
d) {x}∈{ {x}}
Ans: True
e) ∅ ⊆{x}
Ans: True
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f) ∅ ∈{x}
Ans: False
Q8:Use a venn diagram to illustrate the relationship A⊆B and B⊆C
Ans:
C
B
A
Q9:Suppose that A,B,C are sets such that A⊆B and B⊆C.Show that A⊆C
Proof: let A⊆B and B⊆C
and x∈A but since A⊆B
so x∈B also B⊆C so x∈C
x∈A⟹ x∈C
so A⊆C
Q10:Find two sets A and B such that A∈B and A⊆B
Ans: let A={a}
B={a,{a}}
Then clearly A∈B and A⊆B
Q11: What is the cardinality of each of the following sets
a){a}
ans: 1
b){{a}}
ans: 1
c){a,{a}}
ans: 2
d){a,{a},{a,{a}}
ans: 3
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Q12: What is the cardinality of each of the following sets
a) ∅
Ans:0
b) {∅ }
Ans:1
c) {∅ , {∅ }}
Ans: 2
d){∅ , {∅ }. {∅ , {∅ }}}
Ans: 3
Q13: Find the power set of each of the following sets
a) {a}
P({a})={∅,{a}}
b) {a,b}
P({a,b})={∅, {a},{b},{a,b}}
c) {∅ , {∅ }}
P({∅ , {∅ }})={∅,{ ∅ } , { { ∅ } } ,{{∅ , {∅ }}}
Q14: Can you conclude that A=B if A and B are two sets with the same power set
Ans:yes
Q15:How many elements does each of the following sets have ?
a) P({a,b,{a,b}})
Ans:23
b) P({∅,a,{a},{{a}}})
Ans:24
c) P(P(∅))
Ans: 2
Q16: Try yourself
Q17: Let A={a,b,c,d} B={y,z} then find A×B and B×A
Ans: A×B={(a,y),(a,z),(b,y),(b,z),(c,y),(c,z)}
and B×A=={(y,a),(z,a),(y,b),(z,b ),(y,c),(z,c)}
Q22:let A={a,b,c},B={x,y},C={0,1} Find
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a) A×B×C
Ans: A×B×C={(a,x,0),(a,x,1),(a,y,0),(a,y,1) (b,x,0),(b,x,1),(b,y,0),(b,y,1),(c,x,0),(c,x,1),
(c,y,0),(c,y,1)}
b) C×B×A
c) C×A×B
d) B×B×B
Q23: How many different elements does A×B have if A has m elements and B has n elements?
Ans: |A×B|=m×n
