Lecture – 2

Set and its Operations

Discrete Structures (CSAL-1213)
Course Instructor: Mahwish Shahid
Course Instructor

 Mahwish Shahid

 Email: [email protected]
 For queries and counselling: write an email for appointment or
visit during counselling hours

 Office: Sports Building (GYM Faculty),

o 2nd floor, Cabin 13, FOIT
Textbook:
 Main Text:
 K. Rosen: Discrete Structures and its Applications

 Weekly Readings:
 L. Lovasz: Discrete Mathematics, Elementary and Beyond

 Reference:
 R. J. Wilson: Graph Theory
Policies and Guidelines
 No usage of cellphones in the class!
 Attendance Policy/Late Policy
 Quiz Policy
 Mostly announced and 4-6 Quizzes
 Assignments
 4 Handwritten Assignments (minimum)
 Plagiarism / AI results in Zero (0)
 Class Participation
 Class exercises (No retake)
Good Practices
 Be on time in class
 Be regular (do not miss a single class)
 Start assignments on time
 Do not miss any assignment or quiz
 Come up with good questions (ask in class/after class)
 Visit during office hours to discuss your problems/assignments
Bad Practices
 Excuses
 Coming late in class (remember: quiz will be in first 15 min of class)
 Come to class without pen and notebooks
 Asking for leaves --- Teacher has no authority to grant leaves.
 Manage your 6 absents as emergency leaves, or request HoD/Dean for extra leaves.
 Requesting to increase marks
 Coming to class without reading the required text/notes
 Copying / plagiarism
 Asking to extend the deadline
 Using mobile phones in class or Cross talk in class
Set
 Unordered Collection of Objects
 A set is a well-defined collection of distinct objects, considered as an object in its own
right.
 Notation: Sets are typically denoted using curly braces: A = {1, 2, 3}.
 Students in Class: {ali, amna, hadi, sara}
 Cities of Pakistan: {Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, Faislabad, Multan, …}
 Sets can contain non-related elements as well, {red, 5, Ali}
 We’ll use set of numbers
• Set of all Prime numbers: {1,3,5,7, ….}
• Set of Natural Numbers: {1,2,3,4,5,6,7…}
• Set of Whole Numbers: {0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7, …..}
 Properties of Sets
 Order does not matter: {1,2,3,4,5} is equivalent to {2,5,4,1,3}
 Does not have duplicate elements, always Unique/ distinct elements
• Such as list of students ID in class
Elements of a Set
 Element: An object in a set is called an element.
 A set contains the various members or elements that makeup the set

 Membership: If an object x is in a set A, we write x ∈ A.

• Example: 2 ∈ {1, 2, 3} means 2 is an element of the set.
• If an object is not in the set, we write x ∉ A.
• Example: 4 ∉ {1, 2, 3}.
Specifying a Set
 Set Name should be in capital letters (A,B,C,S,….)
 A={1,2,3,4,…} B={a,e,i,o,u}

 Set elements should be represent in small case letters (a,x,y,…)

 Its easiest way to list elements if finite i.e. A={1,2,3,4,5}
 For infinite set: use Ellipsis (…) i.e. B =
{0,1,2,3, …..}
• Ellipsis may cause confusion: what's Next??? i.e. C = {3,5,7,….}
Set Notations
 Roster Notation: also called List Notation : Useful when there is a small or finite number of
elements.
 List all elements of the set inside curly braces.
 Syntax: 𝑆={element 1, element 2, element 3, ...}
 Example: Set of prime numbers less than 10: 𝑃={2,3,5,7}
 Set Builder Notations: Useful for describing sets with infinite elements or when listing
elements is impractical.
 we describe the properties that the elements of the set satisfy, instead of listing them explicitly.
 Syntax: S={x ∣ condition on x} where: 𝑥 is a variable representing the elements of the set.
 The condition on 𝑥 specifies which elements are included.
 Examples: The set of all integers greater than 0:
• 𝑆={𝑥 ∣ 𝑥 > 0 , 𝑥 ∈ 𝑍} Read as x such that x is greater than 0, where x belongs to Z
• The set of even numbers: 𝐸={𝑥 ∣ 𝑥 is an even number}
Examples of Set Builder Notations:
Examples of Set-Builder Notation
 Finite Set: The set of integers between 1 and 5:
• S={x ∣ 1 ≤ x ≤ 5 , x ∈ Z}
• Equivalent in roster form: S={1,2,3,4,5}

 Infinite Set: The set of positive real numbers:

 R+={x ∣ x > 0, x ∈ R}
• This is an infinite set, and we can’t list all elements.
Most Common sets
Types of Sets

• Finite Set: A set with a limited number of elements.

• Example: A = {1, 2, 3}.

• Infinite Set: A set with an unlimited number of elements.

• Example: The set of natural numbers N = {1, 2, 3, ...}.

• Empty Set: A set with no elements, denoted by ∅ or {}.

Class Activity

 Write each of the following sets by listing their elements

between braces
Class Activity

 write following set in set builder notation

1. {0, 3, 6, 9, 12}
2. {−3,−2,−1, 0, 1, 2, 3}
3. {m, n, o, p}
Empty Set
 contains no elements. It is a set with Zero elements, called Null / Empty
Set
 Written using the symbol ∅ or A={}
 ∅ ≠ {∅} , where ∅ means zero elements and { ∅} means 1 elements
 If replace ∅ with {} then : {} ≠ { { } }
 The cardinality (number of elements) of the empty set is 0.
 It can be an element of other sets:
 A= {∅, 1, 2, 3,x}
 Example 1: The set of all natural numbers less than 0.
 S={x ∣ x < 0 , x ∈ N } = ∅
Types of Sets

• Universal Set (U): The set containing all possible elements under
consideration.
• Example: U = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}.

• Subset (⊆): A set A is a subset of set B if all elements of A are also

elements of B.
• Example: A = {1, 2}, B = {1, 2, 3}, A ⊆ B.

• Power Set: The set of all subsets of a set A.

• Example: If A = {1, 2}, then the power set of A is P(A) = {∅, {1}, {2}, {1,
2}}.
Universal Set
Subset – Set of Sets
Subset – Set Equality
Types of Subsets
 Proper Subset
• A set A is a proper subset of set B, denoted by A ⊂ B, if every element of
A is also in B, and A ≠ B (i.e., A is strictly smaller than B).
• Example:
• Let A = {1, 2} and B = {1, 2, 3}.
• A ⊂ B because all elements of A are in B, and A is not equal to B.
 Improper Subset
• Every set is a subset of itself, and this is called an improper subset.
• It is denoted by A ⊆ A.
• Example:
• If A = {1, 2, 3}, then A ⊆ A is true because every element of A is in A.
Proper Subsets
Power Set
Types of Sets
 Disjoint Sets
• Two sets A and B are disjoint if they have no elements in common.
• In other words, A ∩ B = ∅ (empty set).
• Example:
• Let A = {1, 2, 3} and B = {4, 5, 6}.
• Since A and B share no elements, A and B are disjoint sets.
Types of Sets

 Singleton Set: A set that contains exactly one element is called a

singleton set.
• Example:
• Let A = {5}.
• A is a singleton set because it has only one element.
Class Activity

 Write Power set of

 {1}

 1
A tree listing of subset
Cardinality of set
 the number of elements contained in the set.
 It represents the "size" of the set.

 If 𝐴 is a set, the cardinality of 𝐴 is denoted by ∣𝐴∣

 Example:
 For the set 𝐴={1,2,3} the cardinality is: ∣𝐴∣=3
 For set B={1,2,3,4….} the cardinality is: ∣B∣= ∞
 For empty sets its ∣∅∣=0
 If 𝐴={1,2} and 𝐵={𝑥,𝑦,𝑧} then:
• ∣𝐴×𝐵∣ = ∣𝐴∣ × ∣𝐵∣ = 2 × 3 = 6
Tuples
 Unlike sets, Tuples are ordered
 In 2D Space, it’s a (x,y) pair of numbers to specify a location
 i.e. x has to come first in order then y
 In 3D space, it’s a triple of number to specify a location (x,y,z)
 (1,2,3) is not same as (3,2,1)
 In n-Dimensional space, it’s a n-tuple of numbers
 2D Space: use pairs or 2 Tuple
 3D Space: use Triple or 3 tuples
Cartesian Product
 The Cartesian product of two sets A and B, denoted by A × B,
 is the set of all ordered pairs (a, b) where a belongs to A and b belongs to B.
 Notation: 𝐴×𝐵 = {(𝑎,𝑏) ∣ 𝑎∈𝐴 and 𝑏∈𝐵}
Cartesian Product
 Let A = {1, 2} and B = {x, y}.
 Then, the Cartesian product A × B is:
 𝐴×𝐵={ (1,𝑥), (1,𝑦), (2,𝑥), (2,𝑦) }
 Each pair consists of one element from set A and one element from set B.

 SO does 𝐴×𝐵 is equivalent to 𝐵 × 𝐴

 Let A = {1, 2}.

 The Cartesian product A × A is:
 A×A = { (1,1), (1,2), (2,1), (2,2) }
Activity - Cartesian Product
 Let A = {1, 2, 3, 4} and B = {a, b, c}. Find 𝐴×𝐵 and 𝐵 × 𝐴

 Find the followings and also sketch them

1. {1,2} x {-1,2}
2. NxN
3. RxR
4. ZxZ
5. RxN
6. NXZ
Cartesian product in Real Life
• Cartesian product is used in combinations like:
• Coordinates: For a coordinate system, the x-axis values form one set and the y-
axis values form another set. The Cartesian product gives all the points on the
plane:
• Let X = {1, 2, 3} and Y = {4, 5}.
• The Cartesian product X × Y would give all the points on a 2D plane: (1, 4), (1, 5), (2,
4), (2, 5), (3, 4), (3, 5).
• Product Options: For a product with different color and size options:
• Colors: C = {Red, Blue}
• Sizes: S = {Small, Medium}
• Cartesian product C × S gives all possible product combinations: (Red, Small), (Red,
Medium), (Blue, Small), (Blue, Medium).
Set Identities
Venn diagrams
 a set can be visualized with a circle, which we regard as enclosing all the elements of the set.
 Such diagrams can illustrate how sets combine using various operations
 To Visualizing Sets and set operations:
 Graphical representation of sets
• Box: Universal set of English Alphabets
• Circle: Set of vowels
 Use to visually represent union, intersection, and difference.
 Note: individual elements are usually not written in a venn Diagram
 Examples in coming slides: A Venn diagram illustrating A ∪ B, A ∩ B, and A - B.
Venn diagrams
 How to make a Venn diagram for
 set AUB is shaded with horizontal lines while C is
shaded with vertical lines
 How to make a Venn diagram for
 The set A is shaded with horizontal lines, and B∩C is
shaded with vertical lines
Draw Venn Diagram of

𝐴=𝑈 − 𝐴, 𝑊h𝑖𝑐h 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠𝑜𝑓 𝑈 𝑤h𝑖𝑐h 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝐴

U A
Draw Venn Diagram of B-A
Draw Venn Diagram of

Set Operators
• Union (∪): The union of two sets A and B is a set containing all elements of A and B.
• Notation: A ∪ B.
• Example: If A = {1, 2, 3} and B = {3, 4, 5}, then A ∪ B = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}.
• Intersection (∩): The intersection of two sets A and B is a set containing all elements that are
both in A and B.
• Notation: A ∩ B.
• Example: If A = {1, 2, 3} and B = {3, 4, 5}, then A ∩ B = {3}.
• Difference (or Relative Complement) (A - B): The difference of sets A and B is a set
containing all elements that are in A but not in B.
• Notation: A - B.
• Example: If A = {1, 2, 3} and B = {3, 4, 5}, then A - B = {1, 2}.
• Complement (A'): The complement of a set A refers to all elements in the universal set U
that are not in A.
• Notation: A'.
• Example: If U = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5} and A = {1, 2, 3}, then A' = {4, 5}
 Shaded Area of diagram Represents AUB
Set Operation: Union
Set Operation: Intersection

Shaded Area of diagram Represents A ∩ B

Set operations: Relative Difference
• The relative difference (or set difference) of two sets A and B, denoted
by A - B,
• is the set of all elements that are in A but not in B.
• Notation: A−B={x ∣ x ∈ A and x ∉ B}
• Example:
• Let A = {1, 2, 3, 4} and B = {3, 4, 5}.
• The relative difference A - B is: A−B={1,2}A−
• These are the elements that are in A but not in B.
Set operations: Symmetric Difference
 The symmetric difference of two sets A and B, denoted by A △ B , A delta B
 is the set of elements that are in either A or B, but not in both.
 A△B= (A∪B) − (A∩B) Or A△B= (A-B) ∪ (B-A)
 For example,
 the symmetric difference of the sets {1,2,3} and{3,4} is {1,2,4}
Set operations: Complement of a set
Set Operations
Class Activity
Suppose A = {4,3,6,7,1,9}, B={5,6,8,4} and C ={5,8,4}, find the
followings
1. AUB
2. A
3. C-B
4. B-C
Membership Tables
 A membership table represents whether each element of the universal
set is a member of given sets.
• If an element belongs to a set, we denote this with a 1.
• If an element does not belong to a set, we denote this with a 0.
• Example:
• Let the universal set be U = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}.
• Let A = {1, 3, 5} and B = {2, 3, 4}.
• Table Setup: Elements of the universal set will form rows, and each set
(A, B) will form columns.
• For element 1, since it is in set A but not in B, the row is 1 0.
• For element 2, since it is in B but not in A, the row is 0 1.
• This continues for all elements of the universal set.
 Operations Using Membership Tables
 Union of Sets:
• A ∪ B represents the elements that are in either A or B (or both).
• In the membership table, A ∪ B takes the value 1 if either A or B has a 1.
 Intersection of Sets:
 A ∩ B represents the elements that are in both A and B.
• In the membership table, A ∩ B takes the value 1 only if both A and B
have a 1.
• Complement of Set A:
• A' represents all the elements that are in the universal set but not in A.
• In the membership table, A' takes the value 1 if A has a 0, and 0 if A has a
1.
Operations Using Membership Tables
 Difference of Sets:
• A - B represents the elements that are in A but not in B.
• In the membership table, A - B takes the value 1 if A has a 1 and B has a 0.

 Symmetric Difference:
• A △ B represents the elements that are in A or B, but not in both.
• In the membership table, A △ B takes the value 1 if A and B have different
values.
Activity – Membership Tables
1. You are given a universal set U and two smaller sets A and B.
2. Use these sets to fill out the membership tables for the following set operations:
1. Union (A ∪ B)
2. Intersection (A ∩ B)
3. Difference (A - B and B - A)
4. Symmetric Difference (A △ B)
3. Once you complete your table, compare your answers with a partner or group.
 Universal Set (U): 𝑈={1,2,3,4,5,6}
 Set A: 𝐴={1,2,4}
 Set B: 𝐵={2,3,5}
Using Set Identities
Number of Subsets (Section 1.3 of book)
1

 A Decision Tree counts the # of leaf nodes

n
 i.e. 2
Popup Quiz:
 An alternate way to count and represent subset (through binary strings)

 Suppose we want to know what will be 223rd subset of a set with 10

elements
 Where we have list down all subsets in particular order.
 How to list???
 Lets start with a set of 3 elements i.e. {a, b, c}
Subsets using binary strings
 Lets start with a set of 3 elements i.e. {a, b, c}
 Encode the subsets with binary strings:
 If an element is present in the subset
• Mark it by 1
 If an element is not present in the subset
• Mark as 0
 Example:
{a,c} 101 Since a and c are in the subset so we marked both as 1
{b} 010 Since a and c are not in the subset so we marked both as 0
{a,b,c} 111
“n” number of Subsets using binary strings
 Lets see how to do it for n elements, where n could be any number
 For length n
 We can represent 2n Numbers i.e. ( 0 to 2n - 1)
 A set with n elements have 2n Number of subsets

Length of binary strings Number of combinations allowed

Length 3 8 - (0-7) => 23
Length 4 16 - (0-15) =>24
Length 5 32 - (0-31) =>25
Length 10 1024 - (0-1023) =>210
n n
Length n 2 - (0 – 2 -1)
“n” number of Subsets using binary strings
 Suppose we want to know what will be 223rd subset of a set with 10
elements
 The binary of 223 is (00 1101 1111)2
 If , … are the ten elements of set
 Then 223rd subset consist of following elements:
 (, , , )
 As we Encode the subsets with binary strings:
• If an element is present, we mark it by ONE, if not present we put ZERO

 This is call one –one correspondence or Bijection

Sequences (Section 1.5 of book)
 Suppose we want to determine the number of strings of length n for set containing
elements {a,b,c}
1. The set {a,b,c}has 3 elements: 'a', 'b', and 'c'.
2. Each position in the string of length n can be filled with any one of these 3 elements.
3. Since there are 3 possible choices for each position in the string, for a string of length n,
there are 3 choices for the first position, 3 choices for the second position, and so on, up to
n positions.
 Thus, the total number of strings is calculated by multiplying the number of choices
for each position.
 Formula: Number of strings=3n
Sequence: Example
 If n=2 the number of strings of length 2 is: 3 2=9
 9 possible strings are: aa, ab, ac, ba, bb, bc, ca, cb, cc

 If n=3 the number of strings is: 33 = 27

 These would include strings like: aaa, aab, aac, …s, ccc

 So, the general rule is that for any string length n, the number of
possible strings is 3n.
Number of Subsets (Section 1.3 of book)

 How many subsets of empty set ∅?

 empty set has no elements (n=0), the number of subsets is:

 20=1
 Thus, the empty set has exactly 1 subset, which is the empty set itself.
Number of Subsets (Section 1.3 of book)

 How many subsets of single element, A={a}?

 The set has n=1 element. Thus, the number of subsets is: 2 1=2

 The subsets are: The empty set and the set {a} itself
 Subset of A= {∅, {a} }
Number of Subsets (Section 1.3 of book)
 How many subsets of single element, X={a, b}?

 The set has n=2 element. Thus, the number of subsets is: 2 2 = 4

 The subsets are: Subset of X = {∅, {a} , {b} , {a,b}}

Fuzzy Set

 a set where each element has a degree of membership ranging from 0 to

1.
 Unlike classical (crisp) sets where an element either belongs to a set or
doesn’t, fuzzy sets allow partial membership.
 Example:
 In a set of "tall people", some individuals may be considered "partially
tall" based on their height.
Fuzzy vs Crisp Sets

 Crisp Sets:
 Elements either fully belong to a set or do not belong at all.
 Example: In the set of "people taller than 6 feet", anyone taller than 6 feet
is included, others are excluded.

 Fuzzy Sets:
 Allows for degrees of membership.
 Example: In the fuzzy set of "tall people", someone 5’10” might have a
membership value of 0.7, indicating they are "somewhat tall".
Membership Function

 The membership function 𝜇𝐴(𝑥) represents the degree of membership of

element 𝑥 in set 𝐴.
 It assigns each element a value between 0 and 1.

 Formula: (𝐴 𝑥):𝑋→[0,1]
 Where 𝑋 is the universal set and [0,1] represents the range of membership
values.

 Example: If 𝐴 is the fuzzy set "tall people":

 𝜇𝐴(person 1)=0.8,(person
𝐴 2)=0.3
Example of a Fuzzy Set

 Fuzzy set of "warm temperatures".

 Membership Function:

 Interpretation:
 At 60°F, the membership is 0 (not warm).
 At 80°F, the membership is 1 (fully warm).
 Between 60°F and 80°F, temperatures are "partially warm."