1
SET THEORY
CONTENTS
Sets 10
Set Operations 11
Fundamental Laws of Set Algebra 12
Venn Diagrams 13
Word Problems on Sets and Venn Diagrams 14
SETS
Georg Cantor, a German mathematician, is widely credited with the development
of set theory. A set is a collection of items or elements. A set can be defined by
listing the elements of the set, enclosed in curly brackets as follows: {1, 2, 3, 4}.
Some examples of sets:
Natural numbers: N = {1, 2, 3, . . .}
Whole numbers: W = {0, 1, 2, 3, . . .}
Integers: Z = {. . . , -3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, . . .}
Table 1.1 shows some of the various symbols used in set notation.
There are two methods of representing sets:
• roster form (listing elements enclosed in braces) and
• set-builder form (describing elements based on a common property).
Examples:
Roster form Set-Builder Form
X = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5} X = {x : x is a natural number and 𝑥 < 6}
X = {1, -2}. X = {x : x is an integer and 𝑥 2 + 𝑥 – 2 = 0}
X= {1, 4, 9, 16, 25, ...} X= {x : x is the square of a natural number}
X = {P, R, I, N, C, E, L} X= {x : x is a letter of the word PRINCIPLE}.
Read the braces as “the set of all” and the colon as “such that”.
Empty Set: An empty set, denoted by φ or {}, contains no elements.
Example: A set of natural numbers between 1 and 2 is empty: {x : 1 < x < 2}.
Finite and Infinite Sets: Finite sets have a specific count of elements, while
infinite sets continue indefinitely.
Example: The set of days in a week (finite) versus the set of natural numbers
(infinite).
Equal Sets: Sets are equal if they contain the same elements.
Example: Sets with the same elements, like {1, 2, 3} and {2, 2, 1, 3, 3}, are
considered equal. Duplicates in sets do not affect the equality.
Subsets: A set A is a subset of set B if every element of A is also in B, denoted as
A ⊂ B.
Example: A = {1, 2}, B = {1, 2, 3}. A ⊂ B because all elements of A are in B.
Power Set: The power set of a set A contains all possible subsets of A.
Example: If A = {1, 2}, then P(A) = {φ, {1}, {2}, {1, 2}}.
Chapter 1| Set Theory 11
Table 1.1 Table of Set Notations
Symbol Symbol Meaning Example
Name
{} Set a collection of elements A = {1, 2, 3, 6}
B = {3, 6}
| such that so that A = {x : x∈ℝ, x<0}
A∪B Union elements that belong to A ∪ B = {1, 2, 3, 6}
set A or set B
A∩B intersection elements that belong to A ∩ B = {3}
set A and set B
A⊂B proper A is a subset of B {1, 2} ⊂ {1, 2, 3}
subset
A⊄B not subset A is not a subset of B {-1, 0} ⊄ {1, 2, 3}
2A power set all subsets of A
P(A) power set all subsets of A
A=B equality A and B have the same A = {11, 12, 13}
members B = {11, 12, 13}
A=B
Ac complement all the elements that do
not belong to set A
a∈A element of set membership A = {1, 2, 3}, 1 ∈ A
x∉A not element no set membership A = {1, 2, 3}, -2 ∉ A
of
{}, Ø empty set A = {}, A = Ø
U universal set of all possible values
set
N natural N = {0, 1, 2, 3,...} 0∈N
numbers
Z integer Z = {...-2, -1, 0, 1, 2,...} -6 ∈ Z
numbers set
Q rational Q = {x | x=a/b, a,b ∈ Z} 2/6 ∈ Q
numbers set
R real R = {x | -∞ < x <∞} 6.343434 ∈ R
numbers set
Universal Set: The universal set is the foundational set encompassing all
elements relevant to a particular context or problem, denoted by U or 𝜉.
Example: In human population studies, the universal set consists of all people in
the world.
SET OPERATIONS
Union of sets: (denoted by ∪, called ”union”)
The union of two sets contains all the elements in either sets. The symbol for
union is ⋃. Formally x ∊ A ⋃ B if x ∊ A or x ∊ B (or both).
i.e. A ∪ B = {x : x ∈ A or x ∈ B}.
Intersection of sets: (denoted by ∩, called ”intersection”)
The intersection of two sets contains only the elements that are in both sets. The
symbol for intersection is ⋂. More formally, x ∊ A ⋂ B if x ∊ A and x ∊ B.
i.e. A ∩ B = {x : x ∈ A and x ∈ B}
Complement of a set: (denoted by Ac, called ”A complement”)
The complement of a set A contains everything not in set A. The symbol for A
complement is Ac. It contains all the elements in the universal set that are not in
A.
12 Olaniyi Evans | University Mathematics
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