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1.2.2 Set Operations

The union of two sets is a set containing all elements that are in A or in B (possibly both). For example,
{1, 2} ∪ {2, 3} = {1, 2, 3}. Thus, we can write x ∈ (A ∪ B) if and only if (x ∈ A) or (x ∈ B). Note

that A ∪ B = B ∪ A . In Figure 1.4, the union of sets A and B is shown by the shaded area in the Venn diagram.

Fig.1.4 - The shaded area shows the set B ∪ A.

Similarly we can define the union of three or more sets. In particular, if A1 , A2 , A3 , ⋯ , An are n sets, their union
A1 ∪ A2 ∪ A3 ⋯ ∪ An is a set containing all elements that are in at least one of the sets. We can write this union
more compactly by
n

⋃ Ai .

i=1

For example, if A1 = {a, b, c}, A2 = {c, h}, A3 = {a, d} , then

⋃ Ai = A1 ∪ A2 ∪ A3 = {a, b, c, h, d} . We can similarly define the union of infinitely many sets
i

A1 ∪ A2 ∪ A3 ∪ ⋯.

The intersection of two sets A and B, denoted by A ∩ B, consists of all elements that are both in A and B. For
−−−
example, {1, 2} ∩ {2, 3} = {2} . In Figure 1.5, the intersection of sets A and B is shown by the shaded area
using a Venn diagram.

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Fig.1.5 - The shaded area shows the set B ∩ A.

More generally, for sets A1 , A2 , A3 , ⋯ , their intersection ⋂i Ai is defined as the set consisting of the elements
that are in all Ai 's. Figure 1.6 shows the intersection of three sets.

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Fig.1.6 - The shaded area shows the set A ∩ B ∩ C .

¯
The complement of a set A, denoted by Ac or A , is the set of all elements that are in the universal set S but are not in
¯
A. In Figure 1.7, A is shown by the shaded area using a Venn diagram.

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¯
Fig.1.7 - The shaded area shows the set A = A
c
.

The difference (subtraction) is defined as follows. The set A − B consists of elements that are in A but not in B. For
example if A = {1, 2, 3} and B = {3, 5}, then A − B = {1, 2}. In Figure 1.8, A − B is shown by the
shaded area using a Venn diagram. Note that A − B = A ∩ Bc .

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Fig.1.8 - The shaded area shows the set A − B.

Two sets A and B are mutually exclusive or disjoint if they do not have any shared elements; i.e., their intersection is
the empty set, A ∩ B = ∅ . More generally, several sets are called disjoint if they are pairwise disjoint, i.e., no two of
them share a common element. Figure 1.9 shows three disjoint sets.

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Fig.1.9 - Sets A, B, and C are disjoint.

If the earth's surface is our sample space, we might want to partition it to the different continents. Similarly, a country
can be partitioned to different provinces. In general, a collection of nonempty sets A1 , A2 , ⋯ is a partition of a set
A if they are disjoint and their union is A. In Figure 1.10, the sets A1 , A2 , A3 and A4 form a partition of the

universal set S .

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Fig.1.10 - The collection of sets A1 , A2 , A3 and A4 is a partition of S .

Here are some rules that are often useful when working with sets. We will see examples of their usage shortly.

Theorem 1.1: De Morgan's law

For any sets A1 , A2 , ⋯ , An , we have

⋯ ∩ An ;
c c c c c
(A1 ∪ A2 ∪ A3 ∪ ⋯ An ) = A ∩ A ∩ A
1 2 3

⋯ ∪ An .
c c c c c
(A1 ∩ A2 ∩ A3 ∩ ⋯ An ) = A ∪ A ∪ A
1 2 3

Theorem 1.2: Distributive law

For any sets A, B, and C we have

A ∩ (B ∪ C ) = (A ∩ B) ∪ (A ∩ C ) ;

A ∪ (B ∩ C ) = (A ∪ B) ∩ (A ∪ C ) .

Example 1.4

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If the universal set is given by S = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}, and A = {1, 2}, B = {2, 4, 5}, C = {1, 5, 6} are
three sets, find the following sets:

a. A ∪ B
b. A ∩ B
¯
¯¯¯
c. A
¯
¯¯¯
d. B
e. Check De Morgan's law by finding (A ∪ B)c and Ac ∩ Bc .
f. Check the distributive law by finding A ∩ (B ∪ C ) and (A ∩ B) ∪ (A ∩ C ).

Solution

a. A ∪ B = {1, 2, 4, 5}.

b. A ∩ B = {2} .
¯
¯¯¯ ¯
¯¯¯
c. A = {3, 4, 5, 6} (A consists of elements that are in S but not in A).
¯
¯¯¯
d. B = {1, 3, 6}.
e. We have
c c
(A ∪ B) = {1, 2, 4, 5} = {3, 6},

which is the same as

c c
A ∩ B = {3, 4, 5, 6} ∩ {1, 3, 6} = {3, 6}.

f. We have

A ∩ (B ∪ C ) = {1, 2} ∩ {1, 2, 4, 5, 6} = {1, 2},

which is the same as

(A ∩ B) ∪ (A ∩ C ) = {2} ∪ {1} = {1, 2}.

A Cartesian product of two sets A and B, written as A × B, is the set containing ordered pairs from A and B. That
is, if C = A × B, then each element of C is of the form (x, y), where x ∈ A and y ∈ B :

A × B = {(x, y)|x ∈ A and y ∈ B}.

For example, if A = {1, 2, 3} and B = {H , T } , then

A × B = {(1, H ), (1, T ), (2, H ), (2, T ), (3, H ), (3, T )}.

Note that here the pairs are ordered, so for example, (1, H ) ≠ (H , 1) . Thus A × B is not the same as B × A.

If you have two finite sets A and B, where A has M elements and B has N elements, then A × B has M × N
elements. This rule is called the multiplication principle and is very useful in counting the numbers of elements in sets.
The number of elements in a set is denoted by |A|, so here we write |A| = M , |B| = N , and
|A × B| = M N . In the above example, |A| = 3, |B| = 2, thus |A × B| = 3 × 2 = 6 . We can similarly

define the Cartesian product of n sets A1 , A2 , ⋯ , An as

A1 × A2 × A3 × ⋯ × An = {(x 1 , x 2 , ⋯ , x n )|x 1 ∈ A1 and x 2 ∈ A2 and ⋯ x n ∈ An }.

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The multiplication principle states that for finite sets A1 , A2 , ⋯ , An , if

|A1 | = M 1 , |A2 | = M 2 , ⋯ , |An | = M n ,

then

∣A1 × A2 × A3 × ⋯ × An ∣= M 1 × M 2 × M 3 × ⋯ × M n .

n
An important example of sets obtained using a Cartesian product is R , where n is a natural number. For n = 2, we
have

2
R = R × R

= {(x, y)|x ∈ R, y ∈ R} .

Thus, R 2 is the set consisting of all points in the two-dimensional plane. Similarly, R 3 = R × R × R and so on.

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