SETS and SET

OPERATIONS
 SET

 Definition: A set is a (unordered) collection of objects.

These objects are sometimes called elements or members
of the set. (Cantor's naive definition)

Examples:
 Vowels in the English alphabet
V = { a, e, i, o, u }
 First seven prime numbers.
X = { 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17 }
 SET
Representing a set:
1) Listing the members.
2) Definition by property, using set builder notation
{x| x has property P}
3) Venn Diagram

Example:
Even integers between 50 and 63.
1) E = {50, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60, 62}
2) E = {x | 50 <= x < 63, x is an even integer}

If enumeration of the members is hard we often use ellipses.

Example: a set of positive integers between less than 100
1) A= {1,2,3 …, 99}
2) A = {x ∈ Z+ | x is odd and x < 100}
 Sets in Discrete Math

 Natural numbers:
N = {0,1,2,3, …}
 Integers
Z = {…, -2,-1,0,1,2, …}
 Positive integers
Z+ = {1,2, 3.…}
 Rational numbers
Q = {p/q | p ∈ Z, q ∈ Z, q ≠ 0, the set of rational numbers}
 Real numbers
R
 Special Sets

 The universal set is denoted by U: the set

of all objects under the consideration.
 The empty set is denoted as ∅ or { }.
 Venn Diagram

 A set can be visualized using Venn Diagrams:

V={ A, B, C }

A
C

B
 Comparing Sets

Subsets
Superset
Equal sets
Disjoint sets
Infinite sets
 Subset
 Definition: A set A is said to be a subset of B if and only if every element of
A is also an element of B. We use A ⊆ B to indicate A is a subset of B.
 Alternate way to define A is a subset of B:
∀x (x ∈ A) → (x ∈ B)

B
 Subset Properties

 Theorem ∅⊆S
Empty set is a subset of any set.

 Theorem: S⊆S
Any set S is a subset of itself
 Superset
 Definition: A set B is a superset of another set A if all
elements of the set A are elements of the set B.
 A⊃B
 Equal Sets
 Definition: Two sets are equal if and only if they have the
same elements.

Example:
 {1,2,3} = {3,1,2} = {1,2,1,3,2} – listed more than one,
they have the same elements

Note: Duplicates don't contribute anything new to a set, so

remove them. The order of the elements in a set doesn't
contribute anything new.
 Disjoint Sets

 Two sets are called disjoint if their intersection is the empty set.
Example
A = {1, 3, 5, 7, 9} and B = {2, 4, 6, 8, 10}. A ∩ B = ∅, A and B are disjoint

U
A
B
 Infinite Set

 Definition: A set is infinite if it is not finite.

Examples:
 The set of natural numbers is an infinite set.
N = {0, 1, 2, 3, ... }
 The set of real numbers is an infinite set.
 Set Operators
 Union, ∪
 Intersection, ∩
 Complement,
 Difference, -
 Proper Subset, ⊂
 Powerset, P
 Cardinality, |..|
 Cartesian Product, x
 Union

 Definition: Let A and B be sets. The union of A and B,

denoted by A ∪ B, is the set that contains those elements
that are either in A or in B, or in both.
 Alternate: A ∪ B = { x | x ∈ A ∨ x ∈ B }

Example:
A = {1,2,3,6} B = { 2,4,6,9}
A ∪ B = { 1,2,3,4,6,9 }
 Intersection

 Definition: Let A and B be sets. The intersection of A and

B, denoted by A ∩ B, is the set that contains those
elements that are in both A and B.
 Alternate: A ∩ B = { x | x ∈ A ∧ x ∈ B }

Example:
A = {1,2,3,6} B = { 2, 4, 6, 9}
A ∩B = { 2, 6 }
 Complement

 Let U be the universal set. The complement of the set A, denoted by A, is the
complement of A with respect to U. Therefore, the complement of the set A is
U − A.
A = {x ∈ U | x /∈ A}.

Example
A = {a, e, i, o, u} (where the universal set is the set of
letters of the English alphabet)

A = {b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l,m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v,w, x, y, z}.

 Difference

 Definition: Let A and B be sets. The difference of A and

B, denoted by A - B, is the set containing those elements
that are in A but not in B. The difference of A and B is also
called the complement of B with respect to A.
 A - B = { x | x ∈ A ∧ x ∉ B }.

Example:
A= {1,2,3,5,7} B = {1,5,6,8}
A - B ={2,3,7}
 A Proper Subset

 Definition: A set A is said to be a proper subset of B if

and only if A ⊆ B and A ≠ B. We denote that A is a proper
subset of B with the notation
A ⊂ B.

B
 A Proper Subset

Example:
A={1,2,3} B ={1,2,3,4,5}
Is: A ⊂ B ? Yes.
 Power Set

 Definition: Given a set S, the power set of S is the set of all subsets of S.
The power set is denoted by P(S).

Examples:
Assume an empty set ∅
 What is the power set of ∅ ? P(∅) = { ∅ }
 What is the cardinality of P(∅) ? |P(∅)| = 1

Assume set {1}

 P( {1} ) = { ∅, {1} }
 |P({1})| = 2
 Power Set

Assume {1,2}
 P( {1,2} ) = { ∅, {1}, {2}, {1,2} }
 |P({1,2} )| =4

Assume {1,2,3}
 P({1,2,3}) = {∅, {1}, {2}, {3}, {1,2}, {1,3}, {2,3}, {1,2,3} }
 |P({1,2,3} | = 8

 If S is a set with |S| = n then | P(S) | = 2n..

 Cardinality

 Definition: Let S be a set. If there are exactly n distinct elements in S, where n is

a nonnegative integer, we say S is a finite set and that n is the cardinality of S.
The cardinality of S is denoted by | S |.

Examples:
 V={1 2 3 4 5}
|V|=5

 A={1,2,3,4, …, 20}
|A| =20

 |∅|=0
 Cartesian Product

 Definition: Let S and T be sets. The Cartesian product of S and T, denoted

by S x T, is the set of all ordered pairs (s,t), where s∈ S and t ∈ T. Hence,
S x T = { (s,t) | s ∈ S ∧ t ∈ T}.

Examples:
 S = {1,2} and T = {a,b,c}
 S x T = { (1,a), (1,b), (1,c), (2,a), (2,b), (2,c) }
 T x S = { (a,1), (a, 2), (b,1), (b,2), (c,1), (c,2) }
 Note: S x T ≠ T x S !!!!
 Cardinality of Cartesian Product

 |S x T| = |S| * |T|

Example:
 A= {John, Peter, Mike}
 B ={Jane, Ann, Laura}
 A x B= {(John, Jane), (John, Ann) , (John, Laura), (Peter, Jane), (Peter, Ann) ,
(Peter, Laura) , (Mike, Jane) , (Mike, Ann) , (Mike, Laura)}
 |A x B| = 9
 |A|=3, |B|=3 -> |A||B|= 9

Definition: A subset of the Cartesian product A x B is called a relation from the set A
to the set B.
 Set
Identities
 Set Identities
 Set identities can be proved using membership tables.
 List each combination of sets that an element can belong to.
 Then show that for each such a combination the element either belongs or
does not belong to both sets in the identity.
Example
Prove: (A ∩ B) = A ∪ B

A B A B A∩B A∪B
1 1 0 0 0 0
1 0 0 1 1 1
0 1 1 0 1 1
0 0 1 1 1 1