: Sets:

Set:
A set is a well-defined collection of distinct objects.
Examples:
1. A collection of pens.
2. A collection of cars.
3. A set of vowels of the English alphabet.

But, what is not a set?

Examples:
1. A set of smart students. (Since it is not well defined)
Priya says: A smart student has the ability to easily understand things in difficult
situations.
Riya says: Smart students are brainy and bright. They work less and do well.

Set elements: Any object belonging to a set is called an element of that set.
Representation of sets:
1. Capital letter to denote the set.
2. Small letters to denote the elements of the set.

Representation of Sets
Sets can be represented in two ways:

1. Roster Form or Tabular form

2. Set Builder Form

Roster Form
In roster form, all the elements of the set are listed, separated by commas and enclosed
between curly braces { }.

Example: If set represents all the leap years between the year 1995 and 2015, then it would be
described using Roster form as:

A ={1996,2000,2004,2008,2012}

Now, the elements inside the braces are written in ascending order. This could be descending
order or any random order. As discussed before, the order doesn’t matter for a set represented
in the Roster Form.

Also, multiplicity is ignored while representing the sets. E.g. If L represents a set that
contains all the letters in the word ADDRESS, the proper Roster form representation would
be

L ={A,D,R,E,S }= {S,E,D,A,R}

L≠ {A,D,D,R,E,S,S}
Set Builder Form
In set builder form, all the elements have a common property. This property is not applicable
to the objects that do not belong to the set.

Example: If set S has all the elements which are even prime numbers, it is represented as:

S={ x: x is an even prime number}

where ‘x’ is a symbolic representation that is used to describe the element.

Empty Set: In mathematics, the empty set is the unique set having no elements;
Symbol for empty set "{ }", and "∅".

Singleton Set: A singleton set is a set containing only one element.

Finite set: The number of elements is finite.

Example: Set of days in a week=A={Mon,Tue,Wed,Thu,Fri,Sat,Sun}

Infinite set: The number of elements is infinite.

Example: Set of natural numbers ={1, 2,3,4,…}

Cardinal Number of a Set: The number of elements in a set is known as the cardinal number
of that set.
If A is a finite set and it has N elements, then the cardinal number of set A is given by
|A|=n(A) = N.

Equal Set: Two sets A and B can be equal only if each element of set A is also the element of
the set B.
This is represented by: A = B.

Subsets:
A  B if and only if every element of A is also an element of B.

What is a Venn diagram?

A Venn diagram uses overlapping circles or other shapes to illustrate the logical
relationships between two or more sets of items. Often, they serve to graphically organize
things, highlighting how the items are similar and different.
Venn diagrams, also called Set diagrams or Logic diagrams, are widely used in mathematics,
statistics, logic, teaching, linguistics, computer science and business. Many people first
encounter them in school as they study math or logic, since Venn diagrams became part of
“new math” curricula in the 1960s.

Venn diagrams are named after British logician John Venn. He wrote about them in an 1880
paper entitled “On the Diagrammatic and Mechanical Representation of Propositions and
Reasoning’s” in the Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science.
Example Venn diagram

Say our universe is pets, and we want to compare which type of pet our family might agree
on.
Set A contains my preferences: dog, bird, hamster.
Set B contains Family Member B’s preferences: dog, cat, fish.
Set C contains Family Member C’s preferences: dog, cat, turtle, snake.
The overlap, or intersection, of the three sets contains only dog. Looks like we’re getting a
dog.
Of course, Venn diagrams can get a lot more involved than that, as they are used extensively

in various fields .

Venn diagram purpose and benefits

• To visually organize information to see the relationship between sets of items, such as
commonalities and differences. Students and professionals can use them to think through
the logic behind a concept and to depict the relationships for visual communication. This
purpose can range from elementary to highly advanced.
• To compare two or more choices and clearly see what they have in common
versus what might distinguish them. This might be done for selecting an important
product or service to buy.
• To solve complex mathematical problems. Assuming you’re a mathematician, of
course.
• To compare data sets, find correlations and predict probabilities of certain occurrences.
• To reason through the logic behind statements or equations, such as the Boolean logic
behind a word search involving “or” and “and” statements and how they’re grouped.

Operations on sets
•Operations
▪Binary: union, intersection, difference
▪Unary: complement
▪Other: cartesian product

Union of two sets: The union of two sets A and B is the set whose elements are all of the
elements in A or in B or in both. The union of sets A and B denoted by A  B is read as ‘’A
union B”
▪ Notation: A∪B

▪Definition: 𝐴 ∪ 𝐵 = {𝑥|𝑥 ∈ 𝐴, 𝑥 ∈ 𝐵}

▪Example: if A= {1, 3, 5, 7, 9} & B= {3, 5, 6, 10, 11} Then

A∪B= {1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11}

Intersection of two sets: The intersection of two sets A and B is the set whose elements are
all of the elements common to both A and B. The intersection of the sets of’ A ’and ‘B’ is
denoted by 𝐴 ∩ 𝐵 and is read as “A intersection B”.

Ex: A= {1, 3, 5, 7, 9} & B= {3, 5, 6, 10, 11} Then A∩B= {3, 5}

Difference of sets: If A and B are subsets of the universal set U, then the relative
complement of B in A is the set of all elements in A which are not in B. It is denoted by A
– B thus:

A – B = {x | x ∈ A and x  B}
 A-B B-A

Complement of a set: If U is a universal set containing the set A, then U – A is called the
complement of A. It is denoted by Ac . Thus Ac = {x: x  A}.

Complement of A

Problems and Solutions

Q.1: If U = {a, b, c, d, e, f}, A = {a, b, c}, B = {c, d, e, f}, C = {c, d, e}, find (A ∩ B) ∪ (A ∩
C).

Solution: A ∩ B = {a, b, c} ∩ {c, d, e, f}

A∩B={c}

A ∩ C = { a, b, c } ∩ { c, d, e }

A∩C={c}

∴ (A ∩ B) ∪ (A ∩ C) = { c }

Q.2: Give examples of finite sets.

Solution: The examples of finite sets are:

Set of months in a year

Set of days in a week

Set of natural numbers less than 20

Set of integers greater than -2 and less than 3

Q.3: If U = {2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11}, A = {3, 5, 7, 9, 11} and B = {7, 8, 9, 10, 11}, Then
find (A – B)′.
Solution: A – B is a set of member which belong to A but do not belong to B

∴ A – B = {3, 5, 7, 9, 11} – {7, 8, 9, 10, 11}

A – B = {3, 5}

According to formula,

(A − B)′ = U – (A – B)

∴ (A − B)′ = {2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11} – {3, 5}

(A − B)′ = {2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11}.

Set Theory Formulas

• 𝑛( 𝐴 ∪ 𝐵 ) = 𝑛(𝐴) + 𝑛(𝐵) – 𝑛 (𝐴 ∩ 𝐵)
• 𝑛(𝐴 ∪ 𝐵) = 𝑛(𝐴) + 𝑛(𝐵) {𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐴 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐵 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑗𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑡𝑠}
• 𝑛(𝐴𝑐 ) = 𝑛(𝑈) − 𝑛(𝐴)
• 𝑛(𝑃𝑈𝑄𝑈𝑅) = 𝑛(𝑃) + 𝑛(𝑄) + 𝑛(𝑅)– 𝑛(𝑃⋂𝑄)– 𝑛(𝑄⋂𝑅)– 𝑛(𝑅⋂𝑃) + 𝑛(𝑃⋂𝑄⋂𝑅)

Question 1: If A and B are two sets such that number of elements in A is 24, number of
elements in B is 22 and number of elements in both A and B is 8, find:

(i) n(A ∪ B)
(ii) n(A – B)
(iii) n(B – A)

Solution: Given, n(A) = 24, n(B) = 22 and n(A ∩ B) = 8

The Venn diagram for the given information is:

(i) n(A ∪ B) = n(A) + n(B) – n(A ∩ B) = 24 + 22 – 8 = 38.

(ii) n(A – B) = n(A) – n(A ∩ B) = 24 – 8 = 16.

(iii) n(B – A) = n(B) – n(A ∩ B) = 22 – 8 = 14.

Question 2: In a group of 500 people, 350 people can speak English, and 400 people can
speak Hindi. Find how many people can speak both languages?

Solution:

Let H be the set of people who can speak Hindi and E be the set of people who can speak
English. Then,

n(H) = 400

n(E) = 350

n(H ∪ E) = 500

We have to find n(H ∩ E).

Now, n(H ∪ E) = n(H) + n(E) – n(H ∩ E)

⇒ 500 = 400 + 350 – n(H ∩ E)

⇒ n(H ∩ E) = 750 – 500 = 250.

∴ 250 people can speak both languages.

Question 3: In a class of 40 students, 20 have chosen Mathematics, 15 have chosen

mathematics but not biology. If every student has chosen either mathematics or biology
or both, find the number of students who chose both mathematics and biology and the
number of students chose biology but not mathematics.

Solution:

Let, M ≡ Set of students who chose mathematics

B ≡ Set of students who chose biology

n(M ∪ B) = 40

n(M) = 20

n(B) = n(M ∪ B) – n(M)

⇒ n(B) = 40 – 20 = 20

n(M – B) = 15

n(M) = n(M – B) + n(M ∩ B)

⇒ 20 = 15 + n(M ∩ B)

⇒ n(M ∩ B) = 20 – 15 = 5
n(B – M) = n(B) – n(M ∩ B)

⇒ n(B – M) = 20 – 5 = 15