7TH GRADE
SKSU – Laboratory High School
SETS AND PROBLEMS
INVOLVING SETS
Vivialyn C. Asoy, LPT
OBJECTIVES
At the end of the discussion, the students should be
able to:
a. define a well-defined set;
b. illustrate a subset, universal set, null set, cardinality of
set;
c. analyze union, intersection, and the difference of two
sets.
d. solve problems involving sets using Venn diagram; and
e. apply set operations to solve a variety of word
problems.
SETS
In this lesson you will learn how to define and
illustrate a well-defined set and to identify
elements of the given set.
Group and label the objects below according to their
characteristics.
Which does not belong to the group?
SETS
It is a collection of objects
which are clearly defined as
belonging to a well-defined
group.
Normally, a capital letter is used
to name or label a set.
Example:
Set A consists of all
subjects offered in
secondary school.
𝐴 = 𝑠𝑒𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑙
𝐴 = 𝐸𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑖𝑠ℎ, 𝑀𝑎𝑡ℎ, 𝑆𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒, 𝐹𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑜, 𝑆𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑆𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒, 𝑀𝐴𝑃𝐸𝐻, 𝐸𝑆𝑃
Well-Defined Set
It is a set with an exact object or element.
Example:
❑ The set of primary colors
❑ The set of letters in the word “arrange”
Example (not well-defined set):
❑ The set of popular actor
❑ The set of punctual students
Set Notation
Rule Method Rooster or Listing Method
𝐴 = 𝑥: 𝑥 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 1 𝑡𝑜 5 𝐴 = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
𝐴 = 𝑥: 𝑥 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝐴 𝐵 = 𝐴𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑙, 𝐴𝑢𝑔𝑢𝑠𝑡
𝐴 = 𝑥: 𝑥 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑜𝑓 15 𝐶 = 3,5
𝐴 = 𝑥: 𝑥 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑 𝑆𝑈𝐵𝑇𝑅𝐴𝐶𝑇 𝐷 = 𝑆, 𝑈, 𝐵, 𝑇, 𝑅, 𝐴, 𝐶
𝐴 = 𝑥: 𝑥 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 8 𝐸 = 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, …
State whether each of the following sets is
well-defined or not.
_______________
Not Well-Defined 1. The set of young politicians.
_______________
Well-Defined 2. The set of types of matter.
_______________
Not Well-Defined 3. The set of versatile actresses.
_______________
Well-Defined 4. The set of all oceans of the earth.
_______________
Well-Defined 5. The set of months containing 31
days.
Match the descriptions in column A with
word/s being described in column B.
Column A Column B
E 1. The objects contained in the set.
B 2. A well-defined group or collection of a. capital letters
objects that share common characteristics.
C 3. It is represented by three dots which is b. set
use to indicate that a set has many/infinite c. ellipsis
elements.
D 4. A symbol use to group the elements of a d. { }
set. e. Elements
A 5. A symbol used in represent a set.
Subsets, Universal Sets,
Null Sets and Cardinality of
Sets
The table shows the common
symbols used:
Symbol Words
∈ "𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡"
∉ "𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡"
⊂ "𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑠𝑒𝑡"
⊄ "𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑎 𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑠𝑒𝑡"
⋃ "𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑜𝑛"
⋂ "𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛"
Example
Given: 𝐴 = 𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 1 𝑡𝑜 10
𝐴 = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Fill in the blanks with ∈ or ∉.
a. 8 _____
∈ A
b. 13 _____
∉ A
c. 4 _____
∈ A
d. 10 _____
∈ A
e. 23 _____
∉ A
Universal Set
It is a set that contains
everything or all elements
under consideration and are
relevant to the problem. It
is denoted as U.
Examples
1. Set ∪ contains the set of all letters of the
English Alphabet.
∪= 𝑨, 𝑩, 𝑪, 𝑫, 𝑬, 𝑭, 𝑮, 𝑯, 𝑰, 𝑱, 𝑲, 𝑳, 𝑴, 𝑵, 𝑶, 𝑷, 𝑸, 𝑹, 𝑺, 𝑻, 𝑼, 𝑽, 𝑾, 𝑿, 𝒀, 𝒁
2. Set U contains the set of days of the week.
∪= 𝑺𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒚, 𝑴𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒚, 𝑻𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒚, 𝑾𝒆𝒅𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒚, 𝑻𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒚, 𝑭𝒓𝒊𝒅𝒂𝒚, 𝑺𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒅𝒂𝒚
Subsets
It is a portion of a set. A set
is a subset of another set if
and only if all the elements
of a sets are contained in
another set. It is denoted as
⊆.
Examples
Fill in each of the following blanks with the
symbol ⊆ or ⊈.
a. 6, 7, 8 ______
⊆ 0, 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
b. 𝑓, 𝑔, ℎ ______
⊈ 𝑣𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑠
c. 𝑏𝑙𝑢𝑒, 𝑟𝑒𝑑 ______
⊆ 𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑏𝑜𝑤 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑠
Subsets
The number of subsets of a
certain set is 2𝑛 , where n is the
number of elements in the set.
Note:
(1) Every set is a subset of itself.
(2) An empty set is a subset of
every set.
Empty or Null Sets
It is a set with no elements
in it known as an empty set
or null set. It is represented
by ∅ or by { }.
Examples
1. Set T is the set of counting numbers between 1 and 2.
𝑇= or 𝑇 = ∅
2. Set I is the set of months with 35 days.
I= or I = ∅
3. Set M is the set of cars with 60 doors.
M= or M = ∅
4. Set B is the set of flying castles.
B= or B = ∅
5. Set E is the set of crying trees.
E= or E = ∅
Cardinality of Sets
The cardinal number of
set A, denoted by n(A), is
the number of elements
in set A.
Examples:
Find the cardinality of the following sets.
1. Set D is the set of vowels in English alphabet.
n(D) = 5
2. Set R is the set of letters in the word “difficulty”.
n(R) = 8
3. Set M is the set of odd numbers between 1 and 2.
n M ={ }
4. Set E is the set of letters in the word “survivor”.
n(E) = 6
5. Set K is the set of counting numbers less than 5
n(K) = 4
