ILBC

International Language & Business Centre

Mathematics

4
Primary Six
Issued by Maths Department

Set
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A Set is a collection of clearly-defined objects.
Example
The set of months in a year.
The set of days in a week.
The set of boys in your class.
The set of natural numbers less than 5.

Notation
Sets are denoted by English capital letters.
Example
A is the set of prime numbers between 1 and 30.

9.1 Description of sets

Sets are described (i) in words.

or (ii) by listing. (curly bracket notation)

or (iii) by stating properties which characterise the

elements of the set. (set-builder form)

Examples (i) B is the set of prime numbers less than 20. (in words)

(ii) B = { 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19} (by listing)

(iii) B = { x : is a prime number < 20}. (set-builder form)

Unit 9 119
Set
 ILBC

International Language & Business Centre Mathematics

Primary Six
Issued by Maths Department

Exercise 9.1
Write the following sets by listing.
1. A is the set of even natural numbers less than 20.
2. B is the set of multiples of 3 between 1 and 20.
3. C is the set of integers between -2 and 2.
4. D is the set of multiples of 5 between 5 and 30.
5. E is the set of vowels in English alphabets.
6. F is the set of positive integers between -1 and 5.
7. G is the set of the first five terms of the sequence defined by Ux = x2 + 1.
8. The set of natural numbers divisible by 7 and less than 50.
9. The set of the roots of the equation x2 - 1 = 0
10. The set of two-digit natural numbers divisible by 3.

Membership
’’is used to show the membership of an element in a set.

element {set}

’’means ‘’is an element of” or “is a member of” or “belongs to”

‘’means “is not an element of” or “is not a member of” or “does not belong to”.

Example Let A = {4, 7, 10, 13}

Here. 4 A 0  A
7 A 1 A
10 A 15 A

Unit 9
120 Set
 ILBC

International Language & Business Centre

Mathematics
Primary Six
Issued by Maths Department

Some well-known sets

N = The set of natural numbers
= { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ....................... }
W = The set of whole numbers
= {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, ........................ }
P = The set of prime numbers
= { 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, ............... }
M = The set of positive multiples of k : k N
= { k, 2k, 3k, 4k, ...................... }
e.g The set of positive multiples of 5 = { 5, 10, 15, 20, .....}

Empty set
A set without any element is an empty set and denoted by .
 = { }
Note: A set of elements having impossible condition is empty.
Example A is the set of teachers who are 2000 years old.  A = 
B is the set of integers between 0 and 1. B=

Subset
If every element of A belongs to B, then A is a subset of B. (write AB)
Example

A B

Unit 9 121
Set
 ILBC

International Language & Business Centre Mathematics

Primary Six
Issued by Maths Department

Example
A = {a, b} , B = { a, b, c, d}
a A  a B
b A  b B
 Every element of A  B.
 A B

Note (1) Every set is a subset of itself.

 A A

Note (2) Empty set is a subset of any set.

  any set

Note (3) If there are k number of elements in A, then the number of all
possible subsets of A is 2k.
Example A = { 0, 1, 2, 3 }
 n (A) = 4

 Number of all possible subsets of A = 2k = 24 = 16

Subsets with 1 element. {0}, {1}, {2}, {3}
Subsets with 2 elements. {0,1}, {0, 2}, {0,3}, {1,2}, {1,3}, (2,3}
Subsets with 3 elements. {0,1,2}, {0,1,3}, {0,2,3}, {1,2,3}
Subset with 4 elements. {0,1,2,3}
Subset with no element .

Equal Sets
Two sets A and B are equal , if they have exactly the same members.
Example
A = {1,3,2} and B = { 1,2,3}
A = B

Unit 9
122 Set
 ILBC

International Language & Business Centre

Mathematics
Primary Six
Issued by Maths Department

Note(1) If A B and B A then A = B

Note (2) Correct use of symbols

= belongs to = does not belong to
= is a subset of = is not a subset of

Exercise 9.2
Fill up the blanks with correct symbols.
1. {2} ................ {1,2,3} 7. A ................ A
2. 0 ................ {0,1,2} 8. ............... P
3. 1 ................ {2,3,4} 9. 0 ............... 
4. {1} ................ {2,3,4} 10. 1 ............... 
5. {0,1}................ {0,1} 11. .............. {1,2,3}
6.  ................. {0,1,2,3} 12. .............. {0}

Venn Diagram
Various sets are shown by the points inside smaller shapes (circles,
ovals, rectangles, etc) drawn within rectangle E. These diagrams are called
Venn diagrams after John Venn, and English mathematician who lived
from 1834 to 1923.
E .11
.5 .12
A .9
.6 .8 .13
.10
.7 .14

Universal Set
The universal set is the set containing the largest number of ele-
ments under discussion. It is denoted by E or S.

Unit 9 123
Set
 ILBC

International Language & Business Centre Mathematics

Primary Six
Issued by Maths Department

Example For English alphabets, S = { a, b, c, ............. , z}

S A  S
A

9.2 Set operations

1. Intersection

The intersection of the two sets A and B is the set of elements which
are members of A and also members of B.
A intersecting B is denoted by A  B.
Examples

1. A = {1,2,3,5} and B = {1,2,3,4}

A  B = {1,2,3,5}  {1,2,3,4} = {1,2,3}

2. A = {0} and B = {1,2}

A  B = {0}  {1,2} =  A B

3. A = A { }=

A B is shaded.
2. Union
The union of two sets A and B is the set of elements which belong
either to A or to B, or to both A and B; A union B is denoted by A B.

Unit 9
124 Set
 ILBC

International Language & Business Centre

Mathematics
Primary Six
Issued by Maths Department

Examples
1. A = {1,2,3,5} and B = {1,2,3,4}
A B = {1,2,3,5}  {1,2,3,4} = {1,2,3,4,5} A B
2. A = {0} and B = {1,2}
A B = {0}  {1,2} = {0,1,2}
3. A = A { }=A

Exercise 9.3
1. E = {2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10}, P = {x : x is prime}
Q = {x : x is a multiple of 2}, E
R = {x : x is a multiple of 3} P Q
(a) Enter the above information on
the diagram below.
R

(b) List each of the following sets (i) Q R. (ii) P Q.

2. A = set of even numbers less than 10. B = set of natural numbers

less than 7. C = set of odd numbers less than 13.
(a) List the elements of sets A, B, C.
(b) List the elements in A  B.
(c) List the elements in B  C.
(d) Illustrates the sets A, B, C, A  B, B  C by Venn Diagram.

3. E = {2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10}, A = { x : 2  x  5},
B = { x : x is a factor of 24} C = {x : x is a prime}
List the element of the set
(a) B (b) A C (c) B (A C)

Unit 9 125
Set
 ILBC

International Language & Business Centre Mathematics

Primary Six
Issued by Maths Department

Number of elements in a Set

Note: n(A) is defined as the number of elements in A.

Example A = {0, 1, 2, 3, 4}
 n(A) = 5

Formula for the number of elements in the two sets

n(A  B) = n(A) + n(B) – n(A  B)

n(A B)

A B

n(A) n(B)

A B

Example
If A = {a, b, c, d, e}, B = {c, d, e}
show that n(A  B) = n(A) + n(B) – n(A  B)

Solution
A = {a, b, c, d, e}  n(A) = 5
B = {c, d, e}  n(B) = 3
A  B = {a, b, c, d, e,}  n(A  B) = 5
A  B = {c, d, e}  n(A  B) = 3
LHS = n(A  B) = 5

Unit 9
126 Set
 ILBC

International Language & Business Centre

Mathematics
Primary Six
Issued by Maths Department

RHS = n(A) + n(B) – n(A  B)

=5+3–3=5
 LHS = RHS
 n(A  B) = n(A) + n(B) – n(A  B)

Exercises 9.4
1. A = The set of natural numbers less than 4. B is the set of integers
between –2 and 4. show that n(A  B) = n(A) + n(B) – n(A  B).

2. A={2, 3, 4} and B={5, 6, 7} show that n(A  B) = n(A) + n(B) – n(A  B).

3. A is the set of vowels and B is the set of consonants from ‘e’ to ‘j ’.

Find (a) n(A  B) (b) n(A  B).

4. A B C The Venn diagram represents the sets

8 2 A, B and C. Find
7 3
4
5 10
6 1 9 (a) A  B, (b) A  C,
(c) B  C, (d) A  C.

5. A The Venn diagram represents the sets

3 B
1 A, B and C.
5 2
4 6 Find (a) n(A  B), (b) n(B  C),
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(c) n(C  A), (d) n(A  B),
9
C (e) n(B  C), (f) n(C  A).

Unit 9 127
Set