Review of Set Theory
1 Definitions and Important Examples of Sets
Definition. A set is a well-defined, unordered collection of objects. If x is one of the objects in a set X,
we say x is an element of X (in symbols: x ∈ X).
The requirement that a set X is well-defined asks that the question “is x an element of X?” has an
unambiguous yes or no answer.
Defining sets with list method: list elements, separated by commas, between curly braces.
• {apples, oranges, pears}
• {Bob, Mark, Dylan, Alice}
• N = {0, 1, 2, 3, . . .} (the set of natural numbers)
• Z = {. . . , −2, −1, 0, 1, 2, . . .} (the set of integers)
Defining sets with description: describe the set unambiguously in words.
• The set of current USask students
• R =The set of points on the number line (the set of real numbers)
• The set of people taller than 1.8m
Defining sets with set-builder notation: use a formula or condition to construct a set from a previous
reference set.
• if a, b ∈ R,
– (a, b) = {x ∈ R : a < x < b}
– (a, b] = {x ∈ R : a < x ≤ b}
– [a, b) = {x ∈ R : a ≤ x < b}
– [a, b] = {x ∈ R : a ≤ x ≤ b}
• Z+ = {n ∈ Z : n > 0} (the set of positive integers)
• {n ∈ Z : n/2 ∈ Z} (the set of even integers)
• Q = {a/b : a ∈ Z, b ∈ Z+ } = {x ∈ R : qx ∈ Z for some q ∈ Z+ } (the set of rational numbers)
The empty set ∅ is the set with no elements.
2 Set Operations and Relations
Definition. Given two sets A, B, A is a subset of B (in symbols: A ⊆ B) if every element of A is an
element of B. A is a proper subset of B (in symbols: A ⊊ B) if A ⊆ B and B has at least one element
not in A.
Need to be careful about difference between subsets and elements when some elements are also sets.
As an example, if B = {∅, 2, 3, {4, 5}, 6}, then {2, 3} ⊆ B, {4, 5} ∈ B, ∅ ⊆ B and ∅ ∈ B.
Definition. the union of two sets A and B (in symbols: A ∪ B) is the set whose elements are objects x
so that x ∈ A or x ∈ B.
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For example, if A = {1, 2, 3}, B = {3, 4}, A ∪ B = {1, 2, 3, 4}.
Definition. The intersection of two sets A and B (in symbols: A ∩ B) is the set whose elements are
objects x so that x ∈ A and x ∈ B.
For example, if A = {1, 2, 3}, B = {3, 4}, A ∩ B = {3}.
Definition. The Set difference A − B is the set consisting of all elements of A which are not elements of
B.
For example, if A = {1, 2, 3}, B = {3, 4}, then A − B = {1, 2} and B − A = {4}.
Definition. The Cartesian product A × B is the set of pairs (a, b), where a ∈ A and b ∈ B.
For example, if A = {1, 2, 3}, B = {3, 4}, A × B = {(1, 3), (1, 4), (2, 3), (2, 4), (3, 3), (3, 4)}.
3 Functions and Cardinality
Definition. Given two sets A, B, a function f from A to B (in symbols: f : A → B) is a rule which takes
each a ∈ A and assigns some f (a) ∈ B to it. A function f : A → B is injective if f (a1 ) ̸= f (a2 ) whenever
a1 , a2 ∈ A and a1 ̸= a2 . A function is surjective if for every element b ∈ B, there is some a ∈ A so that
f (a) = b. a bijection is a function which is injective and surjective.
A function f : A → B is a bijection if and only if it has an inverse, i.e. there is a function f −1 : B → A
so that f (f −1 (b)) = b and f −1 (f (a)) = a for any a ∈ A, b ∈ B.
Definition. Two sets A and B are equivalent (in symbols: A ⇐⇒ B) if there is a bijection f : A → B.
Two finite sets are equivalent if and only if they have the same number of elements.
Definition. A set A is infinite if it has a proper subset S ⊊ A which is equivalent to A. It is finite
otherwise.
Examples of infinite sets include N (adding one gives bijection with N − {0}), Z (multiplying by two
gives bijection with even integers).
Definition. A set is countable if it is equivalent to N. Alternately a set A is countable if there is a
(possibly infinite) list which contains every element of A.
N, Z, and Q are all countable, as are all finite sets.
Theorem (Cantor’s diagonal theorem). The set R of real numbers is not countable.
Proof. Suppose a1 , a2 , a3 , . . . is an infinite list of real numbers. We can find a real number b = 0.b1 b2 b3 . . .
whose first decimal place b1 is different than the first decimal place of a1 , whose second decimal place b2
is different than the second decimal place of a2 , and whose nth decimal place bn is different than the nth
decimal place of an for any positive integer n. Since b differs in at least one decimal place from every
an , it can’t be on the list. Therefore no infinite list can contain all real numbers, so the real numbers
are not countable.
The Cardinality of a set A (in symbols: |A|) is a measure of the size of A.
• If A is finite and has n elements, then |A| = n.
• If A is infinite and countable, then the cardinality of A is called countably infinite, and this is
written |A| = ℵ0 ( ℵ0 is pronounced “alef not”).
• The cardinality of R is called the cardinality of the continuum, and this is written |A| = ℶ1 ( ℶ1
is pronounced “beth one”).
