Sets

A set is a well-defined collection of objects.

Representation of Sets
There are two methods of representing a set

• Roster or Tabular form In the roster form, we list all the members of the set
within braces { } and separate by commas.
• Set-builder form In the set-builder form, we list the property or properties
satisfied by all the elements of the sets.

Types of Sets

• Empty Sets: A set which does not contain any element is called an empty set
or the void set or null set and it is denoted by {} or Φ.
• Singleton Set: A set consists of a single element, is called a singleton set.
• Finite and infinite Set: A set which consists of a finite number of elements, is
called a finite set, otherwise the set is called an infinite set.
• Equal Sets: Two sets A and 6 are said to be equal, if every element of A is also
an element of B or vice-versa, i.e. two equal sets will have exactly the same
element.
• Equivalent Sets: Two finite sets A and 6 are said to be equal if the number of
elements are equal, i.e. n(A) = n(B)

Subsets:

A set A is said to be a subset of set B if every element of set A belongs to set B. In symbols,
we write
A ⊆ B, if x ∈ A ⇒ x ∈ B

Note:

• Every set is o subset of itself.

• The empty set is a subset of every set.
• The total number of subsets of a finite set containing n elements is 2n.

• Power Set
The collection of all subsets of a set A is called the power set of A. It is denoted by
P(A). If the number of elements in A i.e. n(A) = n, then the number of elements in
P(A) = 2n.

• Universal Set
A set that contains all sets in a given context is called the universal set.

• Venn-Diagrams
Venn diagrams are the diagrams, which represent the relationship between sets. In
Venn-diagrams the universal set U is represented by point within a rectangle and its
 subsets are represented by points in closed curves (usually circles) within the
rectangle.

• Operations of Sets
Union of sets: The union of two sets A and B, denoted by A ∪ B is the set of all those
elements which are either in A or in B or in both A and B. Thus, A ∪ B = {x : x ∈ A
or x ∈ B}.

Intersection of sets: The intersection of two sets A and B, denoted by A ∩ B, is the set of all
elements which are common to both A and B.
Thus, A ∩ B = {x : x ∈ A and x ∈ B}

Disjoint sets: Two sets Aand Bare said to be disjoint, if A ∩ B = Φ.

Intersecting or Overlapping sets: Two sets A and B are said to be intersecting or

overlapping if A ∩ B ≠ Φ

Difference of sets: For any sets A and B, their difference (A – B) is defined as a set of
elements, which belong to A but not to B.
Thus, A – B = {x : x ∈ A and x ∉ B}
also, B – A = {x : x ∈ B and x ∉ A}

Complement of a set: Let U be the universal set and A is a subset of U. Then, the
complement of A is the set of all elements of U which are not the element of A.
Thus, A’ = U – A = {x : x ∈ U and x ∉ A}

Some Properties of Complement of Sets

• A ∪ A’ = ∪
• A ∩ A’ = Φ
• ∪’ = Φ
• Φ’ = ∪
• (A’)’ = A

Symmetric difference of two sets: For any set A and B, their symmetric difference (A – B)
∪ (B – A)
(A – B) ∪ (B – A) defined as set of elements which do not belong to both A and B.
It is denoted by A ∆ B.
Thus, A ∆ B = (A – B) ∪ (B – A) = {x : x ∉ A ∩ B}.

Laws of Algebra of Sets – Class 11 Maths Notes

Idempotent Laws: For any set A, we have

• A∪A=A
• A∩A=A
Identity Laws: For any set A, we have

• A∪Φ=A
• A∩U=A

Commutative Laws: For any two sets A and B, we have

• A∪B=B∪A
• A∩B=B∩A

Associative Laws: For any three sets A, B and C, we have

• A ∪ (B ∪ C) = (A ∪ B) ∪ C
• A ∩ (B ∩ C) = (A ∩ B) ∩ C

Distributive Laws: If A, B and Care three sets, then

• A ∪ (B ∩ C) = (A ∪ B) ∩ (A ∪ C)
• A ∩ (B ∪ C) = (A ∩ B) ∪ (A ∩ C)

De-Morgan’s Laws: If A and B are two sets, then

• (A ∪ B)’ = A’ ∩ B’
• (A ∩ B)’ = A’ ∪ B’

Formulae to Solve Practical Problems on Union and Intersection of Two Sets

Let A, B and C be any three finite sets, then

• n(A ∪ B) = n(A) + n (B) – n(A ∩ B)

• If (A ∩ B) = Φ, then n (A ∪ B) = n(A) + n(B)
• n(A – B) = n(A) – n(A ∩ B)
• n(A ∪ B ∪ C) = n(A) + n(B) + n(C) – n(A ∩ B) – n(B ∩ C) – n(A ∩ C) + n(A
∩ B ∩ C)

Relations:
Ordered Pair
An ordered pair consists of two objects or elements in a given fixed order.

Cartesian Product of Two Sets

For any two non-empty sets A and B, the set of all ordered pairs (a, b) where a ∈ A
and b ∈ B is called the cartesian product of sets A and B and is denoted by A × B.
Thus, A × B = {(a, b) : a ∈ A and b ∈ B}
If A = Φ or B = Φ, then we define A × B = Φ
Note:

• A×B≠B×A
• If n(A) = m and n(B) = n, then n(A × B) = mn and n(B × A) = mn
• If atieast one of A and B is infinite, then (A × B) is infinite and (B × A) is
infinite.

Relations
A relation R from a non-empty set A to a non-empty set B is a subset of the cartesian
product set A × B. The subset is derived by describing a relationship between the
first element and the second element of the ordered pairs in A × B.
The set of all first elements in a relation R is called the domain of the relation B, and
the set of all second elements called images is called the range of R.

Note:

• A relation may be represented either by the Roster form or by the set of

builder form, or by an arrow diagram which is a visual representation of
relation.
• If n(A) = m, n(B) = n, then n(A × B) = mn and the total number of possible
relations from set A to set B = 2mn

Inverse of Relation
For any two non-empty sets A and B. Let R be a relation from a set A to a set B. Then,
the inverse of relation R, denoted by R -1 is a relation from B to A and it is defined by
R-1 ={(b, a) : (a, b) ∈ R}
Domain of R = Range of R-1 and
Range of R = Domain of R-1.

Functions
A relation f from a set A to set B is said to be function, if every element of set A has
one and only image in set B.
In other words, a function f is a relation such that no two pairs in the relation have
the first element.

Some other types of relations depending on the mapping of two sets are as follows:

One-to-One Relations: A relation is said to be One to One relation if all the different
elements of one set are outlined to different elements of another set.

One-to-Many Relations: A relation is supposed to be a One to Many relations if the

identical element of one set is mapped to more than one element of a different set.

Many-to-One Relations: A relation is stated to be a Many-to-One relation if all the different

elements of one set are mapped to the corresponding element of another set.
Many to Many Relations: A relation is supposed to be Many to Many relations if one or
more than one component of one set is mapped with identical elements of another set.

Important Terms in Relations

Domain of a Relation: Let R express a relation from set A to set B. Then, the set of all the
first components of the ordered pair relating to relation R makes the domain of the relation R.

i.e. Domain (R) = {a: (a, b) ∈ R}

Example of relation: Let A = {2, 4} and B = {p, q} be two sets such that the relation R from
A to B is given by:

R = {(2, p), (2, q), (4, p), (4, q)}.

Find the domain of given relation R.

The domain of a relation R is given by; Domain (R) = {a: (a, b) ∈ R}

⇒ Domain (R) = {2, 4}

Range of a Relation: Let R express a relation from set A to set B then the set of all second
components of the ordered pair belonging to relation R forms the range of the relation R.

i.e. Range (R) = {b: (a, b) ∈ R}

Example of relation: If A = {a, c}, B = {d, e} and the relation R from A to B is given by: R =
{(a, e), (c, e)}.

Find the range of given relation R.

The range of a relation R is given by Range (R) = {b: (a, b) ∈ R}

⇒ Range (R) = {e}

Codomain of a Relation: Let R signify a relation from set A to set B, then the set B is called
the codomain of the relation R. i.e. Codomain (R) = B.

Representation of Relations

Relation defines the connection between two sets. There are 3 different methods of
representing the relations. Each of them is discussed below with examples:

Representation of Relations in Set-Builder Form

A shorthand approach is applied to write sets and is often practiced for sets with an infinite
number of components. It is practiced with various types of numbers, such as integers,
natural numbers, whole numbers, real numbers and so on. The set-builder form is also
applied to display sets with an interval or an equation.

Example: The relation of two sets P={3, 4, 5} and Q={9, 16, 25} in which elements of set P
are the positive square root of components of set Q. This relation can be addressed in set-
builder form as follows.

R={(a,b):a is the positive square root of b,a∈P,b∈Q,}

Representation of Relations in Roster Form

Roster form is a description of a set that records down all of the elements existing in the set
and is distributed by commas and confined within braces.
The relation can be expressed in roaster form by addressing all the possible ordered pairs of
the two sets.

Example: The relation of two sets P={3, 4, 5} and Q={9, 16, 25} in which elements of set P
are the square root of components of set Q. The relation can be formulated in roaster form as
follows.

R = {(3,9),(4,16), (5,25)}

Representation of Relations in Arrow Diagram

In the arrow diagram method as the name suggests, the relation between sets is indicated by
drawing arrows from the first elements to the second elements of all the combinations which
relate to the relation.

Important Points on Types of Relations

• Relations and functions usually represent the various operations performed on sets.
• Relation in mathematics is defined as an association between the components of two
or more sets, with a condition that the sets must be non-empty.
• A relation, say “R” is developed by a Cartesian product of subsets.
• Relations play a significant role in concepts like functional analysis and act as a base
or foundation for many other areas in set theory.
• Relations, as well as functions, can be represented in various forms like set-builder
form, arrow representation, algebraic form, graphic, roster form, and tabular form.
• All functions are relations but the converse that is all relations are functions is not
true.
• Symmetric and anti-symmetric relations are not reverse of each other because a
relation R can include both the properties or may not.
• A relation is said to be asymmetric if and only if it is both antisymmetric and
irreflexive.
• The number of distinct relations from a set with “n” elements to a set with “m”
elements is expressed by the formula 2mn
• The number of reflexive relations on a set with n elements can be determined by the
formula 2 n(n-1)
•
The number of symmetric relations on a set with n elements is determined by the
formula 2 n(n+1)/2
• The number of anti-symmetric relations on a set with n elements is determined by the
formula 2n.3n(n−1)/2