Sets

Definition. A set is a well-defined collection of objects. Any object in the set is called an element or member of the set.
Notation:
1. Uppercase letters - set
2. Lowercase letters - elements in a set
3. Membership in a set -
4. Empty set - or {}
5. Universal set - set consisting of all elements in a particular discussion - U

Describing Sets
1. Listing/Roster method - listing all the elements
2. Rule method - using a descriptive phrase

Relation on Sets
Definition. Let A and B be sets.
1. A is a subset of B (A B) if every element of A is an element of B.
2. A and B are equal (A = B) if they have precisely the same elements.
3. A and B are in one-to-one correspondence if to each element of A, there corresponds an unique element of B and vice-versa.
4. A and B are equivalent (A B) if and only if sets A and B are in one-to-one correspondence.
Definition. Let A be a set.
1. A is finite if A = or it is possible to list down all its elements. Otherwise, A is infinite.
2. The cardinality of a finite set is the number of elements on that set.

Operations on Sets
Let A and B be sets.

Union (A B) is the set of elements that belong to A, B or both.

Intersection (A B) is the set of elements that belong to A and

B.

Complement of A (Ac ) is the set of all of U which are not in

A.

Difference (A B) is the set of elements in A which are not in

B.

Properties. Let A and B be sets.

1. If A B = , then A and B are disjoint.
2. Distributive Laws
(a) A (B C) = (A B) (A C)
(b) A (B C) = (A B) (A C)
Definition.
1. An ordered pair (a, b) is a set with two elements in which we distinguish a first and second element.
(a, b) = (x, y) if and only if a = x and b = y.
2. The Cartesian product of non-empty sets A and B (A B) is the set ordered pairs (a, b) where a A and b B.
The Subsets of the Set of Real Numbers
Definition.
Natural Numbers or Counting Numbers N = {1, 2, 3, . . .}
Whole Numbers W = N {0} = {0, 1, 2, 3, . . .}
Integers Z = {. . . , 3, 2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 3, . . .}
Rational Numbers Q = {x|x = p/q, p, q Z, q 6= 0}
Irrational Numbers Q0
Real Numbers R = Q Q0

Exercises.
1. TRUE or FALSE.
(a) If A B = A, then B = A.
(b) Given 3 non-empty sets A, B and C, if A 6= B and B 6= C, then A 6= C.
(c) Let A B. If n(B) = 5 and n(A B) = 3, then n(B A) = 2.
(d) All sets are disjoint with the empty set.
(e) For any two sets A and B, if A B = A then Ac B c .
(f) If A , then for any set B, A B = B.
(g) If x is an element of A and B, then x (Ac B)c .
(h) Q Qc is a subset of the set of real numbers.
(i) N Z Q R
(j) If A = B, then (A B)c B = (A B)c A.
(k) If A B and A C, then B C 6= A.
(l) If A = {x, y, } and B = {m, , n}, then A B = .
(m) If A is a finite set and B is an infinite set, then A B is a finite set.
2. Given the sets:
U = {a, b, c, . . . , x, y, z}
A = {t, r, i, a, n, g, l, e, s}
B = {s, q, u, a, r, e}
C = {d, e, c, a, g, o, n}
Find:
(a) (A (B C))
(b) ((Ac B c ) C)
(c) ((A B C) U )
(d) ((A (B U )) (B C))
(e) ((A C) B)
3. Given the sets:
U = {k | k is a distinct letter of the word mathematics}
X = {s, c, a, t, h, e}
Y = {e, t, h, i, c, s}
Z is the set of all distinct letters of the word estimate
Find:
(a) n(X U )
(b) Y (Z U )c
(c) U (X Y )
(d) X c (Z X)
(e) (Y Z c ) (X c Y )