1

MATHEMATICS IN THE
MODERN WORLD:
Lesson 2: Mathematical
Language and Symbols
MATHEMATICAL LANGUAGE
It is a system used in the field of
mathematics to communicate
mathematical ideas, concepts, and
theories among people. It is distinct and
unique from the usual language most
people are used to and is used to
communicate abstract, logical ideas.
EXPRESSION
VS.
SENTENCES
MATHEMATICAL EXPRESSION
 An expression is the mathematical analogue of an
English noun; it is a correct arrangement of
mathematical symbols used to represent a
mathematical object of interest.

 It DOES NOT state a complete thought.

 The most common expressions are numbers,

variables sets and functions.
MATHEMATICAL SENTENCE
 A mathematical sentence is the analogue of an
English sentence; it is a correct arrangement of
mathematical symbols that states a complete
thought.

 It state a complete thought.

 It always used relation symbols such as

 Mathematical sentences has verbs. In , the verb is

equal .
MATHEMATICAL SENTENCE
 A mathematical sentence can be
a. Always TRUE
b. Always FALSE

⇨
c. Sometimes True/ Sometimes False

⇨
True Statement

⇨
False
Statement
Sometimes True/
Sometimes False
EXPRESSION VS. SENTENCES
English Mathematics
NOUN (person, place, thing, events, EXPRESSION
etc.) Examples:
Examples: • 20
• Carol • {3}
• cat
• book
SENTENCE SENTENCE
Examples: Examples:
• The province of Albay is a • 5 plus 2 is equal to the
province in Bicol Region, square root of 49.
Philippines. • 10 divided by 2 is less
• The word ‘cat’ begins with the than 3.
letter ‘k’.
TRY THESE!
Which of the following are sentences?

⇨ (English Sentence)
a. Manila is the capital of Philippines.
⇨ (This is not a complete
b. The province of Cavite
⇨ (Mathematical
thought)
c. The number 5 is a composite number.
⇨ (Mathematical
Sentence)
d.
Expression)
e. ⇨ (Mathematical
Sentence)
Seatwork 2:
Identify the verb in each sentence. Determine whether the sentence is true or false.

is TRUE

is FALSE

= TRUE

< FALSE

= FALSE
MATHEMATICAL SYMBOLS
These are used to refer to certain
quantities, concepts, and ideas, among
other things. The most commonly used
symbols in basic mathematics are the
numbers (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9), the four
fundamental symbols of operations , the
inequality symbols , and the equal sign .
SYMBOLS COMMONLY USED IN MATHEMATICS

1. The ten digits:

2. Operations:
3. Sets:
4. Variables:
5. Special symbols:
6. Logic symbols:
7. Set Notations:
Some important sets are following:
 set of natural numbers
 set of whole numbers
 set of integers
 the set of rational numbers
 the set of irrational numbers
 the set of real numbers
BASIC CONCEPT
OF
MATHEMATICAL
LANGUAGE
BASIC CONCEPT OF MATHEMATICAL LANGUAGE

A. Language of Set

B. Language of Function and Relation

C. Language of Binary Operations
LANGUAGE
OF
SET
SET OF LANGUAGE
A set is a well-defined collection of distinct objects.
• The objects are called the elements or members of
the set.
• Capital letters are often used to represent sets and
lowercase letters to represents elements of a set.
• The elements of a set are separated by commas.
• A set is said to be well-defined if the elements in a
set are specifically listed.

Example:
Define the set C to denote the possible outcomes of a
coin toss.
NOTATION
• If is a set, the notation
 means that is an element of
 means that is NOT an element of

• A variation of notation is used to described a very large

set.
 refers to set of all integers from 1 to 100.
 refers to set of all positive integers.

• The symbol “…” is called ellipses and is read “and so

forth”
REPRESENTING SETS
1) List (Roster Notation) – elements of the sets
are listed within the pair of brackets { } and are
separated by commas.

2) Rule Notation (Set-Builder Notation) – all the

elements of the set, must possess a single
property to become the member of the set. It was
written as or . The symbol or placed between
two ’s stands for such that.
REPRESENTING SETS
Example 1. Define the set to denote the possible
outcomes of the roll of a dice.
 List (Roster) Notation:

𝑫= {𝟏 ,𝟐 , 𝟑 , 𝟒 , 𝟓 ,𝟔 }

 Rule Notation (Set-Roster Notation):

𝑫={ 𝒙 ∈ℕ : 𝒙 ≤ 𝟔 }
REPRESENTING SETS
Example 2. Define the set to denote the set of
even number less than or equal to 10.
 List (Roster) Notation:

𝑬 = {𝟐 , 𝟒 , 𝟔 , 𝟖 , 𝟏𝟎 }

 Rule Notation (Set-Roster Notation):

𝑬= { 𝒙 ∈ ℕ : 𝐱 𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝟏𝟎 }

REPRESENTING SETS
Example 3. Set of factors of 12

 List (Roster) Notation:

𝑯 = { ± 𝟏 ,± 𝟐 , ± 𝟑 ,± 𝟒 , ± 𝟔 , ± 𝟏𝟐 }

 Rule Notation (Set-Roster Notation):

𝑯 = { 𝒙 ∈ ℤ : 𝒙 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝟏𝟐 }
TRY THESE!
Denote the following sets into roster and set-
builder notations.

a. The set of counting numbers greater

{ 𝟏𝟏than 10. , 𝟏𝟑 , 𝟏𝟒 , 𝟏𝟓 , … }
, 𝟏𝟐
{ 𝒙 ∈ ℕ : 𝒙 > 𝟏𝟎 }
TRY THESE!
Denote the following sets into roster and set-
builder notations.

b. The set of integers greater than

{− 𝟗 ,− 𝟖 ,− 𝟕 ,− 𝟔 , − 𝟓 , …}
{𝒙 ∈ ℤ : 𝒙 > − 𝟏𝟎 }
TRY THESE!
Denote the following sets into roster and set-
builder notations.

c. The set of natural numbers greater than

11 but less than 25.
{ 𝟏𝟐 , 𝟏𝟑 , 𝟏𝟒 , 𝟏𝟓 , 𝟏𝟔 , 𝟏𝟕 , 𝟏𝟖 , 𝟏𝟗 , 𝟐𝟎 , 𝟐𝟏 ,𝟐𝟐 ,𝟐𝟑 ,𝟐𝟒 }
{𝒙∈ ℕ : 𝟏𝟏 < 𝒙 < 𝟐𝟓 }
LANGUAGE
OF
SET
SET OF LANGUAGE
• Joint Sets – are set with common elements
(intersection)
1)
Examples:
2)

• Disjoint Sets – are set with no common elements

1) •
Examples:
2) •
SET OF LANGUAGE
• Universal Set – a set that contains all the
elements and denoted by the symbol .
Examples: 1)

𝐔 = { 𝟏,𝟐, 𝟑, 𝟒, 𝟓,𝟔 }
2)
SET OF LANGUAGE
• Unit set – is a set of only one element, it also
called as singleton.
Examples: 1)
𝐍 ={ 𝟐 }
2)
𝐌= { 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒚 }
• Empty Set or Null Set – is the set that contains
no elements. It is denoted by the symbol or .
Examples:
1)
𝐈 = {} or 𝐈 =∅
SET OF LANGUAGE
• Subsets – if A and B are sets, then A is called a
subset of B, written , if and only if, every element
of A is also an element of B.

Notation
: is a subset of
SET OF LANGUAGE
Note: A subset can have any of the following number of
elements of a given set:
1) ALL the elements
2) SOME of the elements
3) or NONE of the elements

• Proper Subset – a special case of a subset. A

subset is a proper subset if there is at least one (1)
element found in the original set that is not
included in the subset.
 A PROPER SUBSET can have only SOME or NONE of
the elements of a given set.
SET OF LANGUAGE
Example:

Possible subsets
are: {𝟏 } { 𝟏,𝟐 }
{𝟏 , 𝟐 , 𝟑} {𝟐 } { 𝟏,𝟑 } {}
{𝟑 } { 𝟐, 𝟑 }
PROGRESS CHECK
Let , , and . Evaluate the truth and falsity of each of the
following statements.

a. ⇨ False. Zero is not a positive integer.

b. ⇨ True
is a proper subset of A
c. ⇨ True
and have at least one element in common
d. ⇨ False. For example, 200 is in C but not in B.

e. ⇨ True. In general, the definition of subset

implies that all sets are subsets of themselves.
SET OPERATION (UNION)
The union of sets A and B, denoted by , is the set
that contains all the elements that belong to A or to
B or both.

Notation:

, is the set of all values

that are a member of A,
or B, or both.
SET OPERATION (UNION)
Example:
SET OPERATION (UNION)
Example:
SET OPERATION (INTERSECTION)
The intersection of sets A and B, denoted by , is the
set of elements common to both A and B.

Notation:

, is the set of elements

which are common to
both the given sets.
SET OPERATION (INTERSECTION)
Example:
SET OPERATION (INTERSECTION)
Example:
SET OPERATION (COMPLEMENT OF A SET)
It is the set that includes all the elements of the
universal set that are not present in the given set. It
is represented as A’, B’, C’, etc

Notation:
– any set
– the complement of set
A
The set contains
elements in the universal
set which are not
contained in set .
SET OPERATION (COMPLEMENT OF A SET)
Complement of set examples:

If , then .

If , then .

If , then
SET OPERATION (COMPLEMENT OF A SET)
More
example:

What is ?
SET OPERATION (DIFFERENCE OF TWO SETS)
The difference of two sets A and B is the set that
contains exactly all elements in A but not in B.
SET OPERATION (DIFFERENCE OF TWO SETS)
Example:

3 U
A B
5 8 6 What is ?
7 9
1 2

4
TRY THIS!
Shade the given region.

­
TRY THIS!
Shade the given region.

­
TRY THIS!
Shade the given region.

­
TRY THIS!
Shade the given region.

­
TRY THIS!
Shade the given region.

𝐂
TRY THIS!
Shade the given region.

𝐂
TRY THIS!
Shade the given region.

A ∪ B
TRY THIS!
Shade the given region.

A ∪ B
VENN DIAGRAM

Example:
Use Venn diagram to represent the relationship
among the given sets.
,
,
, and
PROBLEMS ON SET OPERATIONS (VENN DIAGRAM)

Example
1:
A group of 50 people go to the candy store to buy
candy bars. Each person buys at least one bar. The
store sells two types of candy bars, Sweet and
Tasty. If 45 people buy both types of Candy Bars,
and 47 people buy at least one Sweet bar each,
how many people bought only Tasty candy bars?
⇨ Therefore, 3 people bought only Tasty
candy bars.
PROBLEMS ON SET OPERATIONS (VENN DIAGRAM)

Example
2:
There are 49 people that own pets. 15 people own
only dogs, 10 people own only cats, five people
own only cats and dogs, and 3 people own cats,
dogs, and snakes. How many total snakes are
there?

⇨ There are 19 snakes in total.

PROBLEMS ON SET OPERATIONS (VENN DIAGRAM)

Example
3:
There are 100 athletes and three different seasons
when sports are offered: soccer in the fall,
basketball in the winter, and baseball in the spring.
Some of the athletes play only one sport, some
play two sports, and some play all three. Forty
people play soccer. If 15 play all three sports, five
play basketball and soccer but not baseball, and 10

⇨
play soccer only, how many people play both
20 people
baseball play both baseball and soccer
and soccer?