Set Theory: The Basics

“A set is a Many that allows itself to be thought as a One”. - Georg Cantor

A set is a collection of objects. The objects of a set are called elements. If S is

a set and x is an element of S, we write x ∈ S. In the same way, if x is not an
element of S we write x ∈
/ S. Sometimes we can describe a set just by listing out
its elements. For example: the set of all possible outcomes if a coin is flipped twice.

{HH, HT, TH, TT}

Where H represents “heads” and T represents “tails”. But it is common that due to
the length of the set describing it by listing out its elements is an impossible mission.
Then we can give a rule or a property that says whether each possible object is or
is not in the set. For example: the set of all possible real numbers between 0 and
10 (both included).
{x ∈ R : 0 ≤ x ≤ 10}
The two dots (:) are read as “such that” (the symbol “|” has the same meaning).
The set that has no elements is the empty set and it is denoted by ∅. If we have
two sets, A and B, we say that A is a subset of B (denoted by A ⊆ B) if every
element of A is also an element of B. The empty set, ∅, is a subset of any set and
a set is always a subset of itself, A ⊆ A. Two sets are equal, denoted by A = B,
if they have the same elements. If all the elements of A are in B but not all the
elements of B are in A, A 6= B, we say that A is a proper subset of B, denoted
by A ( B or A ⊂ B. Thus, if A ⊆ B then A may or may not be equal to B, but if
A ⊂ B then A is definitely not equal to B.

The cardinality of a set is a measure of the “number of elements” of the set. For
example, given the next set:
A = {1, 2, 3}
We can affirm that A contains 3 elements. Therefore, A has a cardinality of 3. We
write |A| = 3 to express this. A set is finite if its cardinality is a natural natural
number. If a set is not finite it is infinite. An infinite set is called countably
infinite if it has the same cardinality as the set of natural numbers. In other words,

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the elements of a countably infinite set can always be counted one at a time although
the counting may never finish. A set is countable if it is finite or countably infinite.
Otherwise, it is uncountable.

The union of two sets A and B (both are subsets of S), written as A ∪ B, is the set
of all the elements that are in A or in B (or in both). The intersection of A and
B, written as A ∩ B, is the set of all the elements that are in A and in B. If there
are no objects that are in A and in B, such that A ∩ B = ∅, we say that A and B
are disjoint. Finally, we define the complement of A, written as Ac or A, as all
the elements that are in S but not in A.

(1) Union of sets (2) Intersection of sets (3) Disjoint sets

(4) The complement of a set

Sometimes we will have to consider the union or intersection of several (even infinite)
sets. We can express this in the next way:
n
[
Ai = A1 ∪ A2 ∪ · · · ∪ An = {x : x ∈ Ai for some i}
i=1

n
\
Ai = A1 ∩ A2 ∩ · · · ∩ An = {x : x ∈ Ai for all i}
i=1

A collection of sets is said to be a partition of a set S if the sets in the collection

are disjoint and their union is S.
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(5) Partition

Set operations have several properties. Some of them are:

A∪B =B∪A A ∪ (B ∪ C) = (A ∪ B) ∪ C
A∩B =B∩A A ∪ (B ∩ C) = (A ∪ B) ∩ (A ∪ C)
A ∩ Ac = ∅ A ∩ (B ∪ C) = (A ∩ B) ∪ (A ∩ C)
(Ac )c = A

Two particularly useful properties are given by De Morgan’s laws:

n
!c n
[ \
c c c c
(A1 ∪ A2 ∪ · · · ∪ An ) = A1 ∩ A2 ∩ · · · ∩ An ≡ Ai = Aci
i=1 i=1

n
!c n
\ [
c
(A1 ∩ A2 ∩ · · · ∩ An ) = Ac1 ∪ Ac2 ∪ ··· ∪ Acn ≡ Ai = Aci
i=1 i=1

Let’s prove the De Morgan’s laws. For the first one:

If x ∈ (A1 ∪ A2 ∪ · · · ∪ An )c , then x ∈
/ (A1 ∪ A2 ∪ · · · ∪ An ). This implies that for
/ Ai . Thus, for every i we have that x ∈ Aci , which is equal
every i we have that x ∈
to x ∈ (Ac1 ∩ Ac2 ∩ · · · ∩ Acn ).

To prove the second law we should follow an analog reasoning. 

The cartesian product of two sets A and B is the set

A × B = {(a, b) : a ∈ A, b ∈ B}

For example, R × R is R2 = {(x, y) : x ∈ R, y ∈ R}.

Exercises:

1. Consider the following statements. Are they true or false?

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• ∅ = {0}. FALSE. The empty set, ∅, is a set with no elements, and {0} is a set
with one element: the number zero.

• x ∈ {x}. TRUE. {x} is a set with the element x, which implies, evidently,
that x is in {x} or, formally, x ∈ {x}.

• ∅ = {∅}. FALSE. While the empty set has no elements, {∅} has one element:
the empty set. If we imagine the empty set as an empty box, {∅} is an empty
box with an empty box inside.

• ∅ ∈ {∅}. TRUE. As we said above, {∅} is a set with one element: the empty
set. This implies that the empty set is in {∅} or, formally, ∅ ∈ {∅}.

2. Given the sets A = {2, 4, 6, 8, 10}, B = {1, 3, 6, 7, 8} and N (the set of the natural
numbers), state whether each of the following statements are true or false.

• A ⊂ N. TRUE. All the elements of A are natural numbers.

• B ⊆ A. FALSE. All the elements of B are not in A. Thus, B is not a subset

of A.

• ∅ ⊂ N. TRUE. The empty set is a subset of any set.

3. Develop the next result: A ∪ (B ∩ C) = (A ∪ B) ∩ (A ∪ C).

Let’s suppose that A = {a, b, c}, B = {c, d, e} and C = {d, e, f }. Then we have that
B ∩ C = {d, e}. Therefore, A ∪ (B ∩ C) = {a, b, c} ∪ {d, e} = {a, b, c, d, e}. We also
know by the theory that (A ∪ B) ∩ (A ∪ C). Then we have that A ∪ B = {a, b, c, d, e}
and A ∪ C = {a, b, c, d, e, f }. Finally, (A ∪ B) ∩ (A ∪ C) = {a, b, c, d, e}. We can now
claim that A ∪ (B ∩ C) = (A ∪ B) ∩ (A ∪ C) is true.

References:

1. Introduction to Probability (2015), by Joseph K. Blitzstein & Jessica Hwang.

2. Introduction to Probability (2002), by Dimitri P. Bertsekas & John N. Tsit-

siklis.