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Chapter 2a

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15 views

Chapter 2a

Uploaded by

ninamarie.w
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Page 1

2. Sets

A set is just a collection of objects, called the elements, or members, of the set. A
set is described either by a rule or by a list, e.g. the set A is the set of integers
between 1 and 5 inclusive, so A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5} or D = {north, south, east, west}.

We say that ‘3 is an element of set A’ and write: 3  A or ‘east is an element of


set D’ and write: east  D. Since 6 is not an element of set A we write: 6  A.

Two sets are equal if they have exactly the same elements. Since the order of the
elements in a set is unimportant, if C = {x, y, z} and D = {y, x, z}, then C = D.

n(A) is the number of elements in set A. So, in the above n(A) = 5 and n(D) = 4.

The empty set (or null set) is the set with no elements and is written Ø, so Ø = { }.

The complement of a set


The universal set is the set of all elements in the problem we are considering.
For example, if the question is about the digits then the universal set is {0, 1, 2,
3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9}. If the question is about the alphabet then the universal set is
{a, b, c, d, e, f, . . . , x, y, z}. The universal set is often called U (or )

The complement, A′, of a set A, is the set of all the elements that are in the
universal set but not in A.
For example, if U ={0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9} and B ={2, 3, 5, 7},
then B′ = {0, 1, 4, 6, 8, 9}.

Intersection of two sets


The intersection A  B of sets A and B, is the set of elements that are in both A
and B. For example, if A = {a, b, c, d, e, f} and B = {d, e, f, g, h} then
A  B = {d, e, f}
Two sets are disjoint if they have no elements in common. In other words sets A
and B are disjoint if A  B= Ø
Page 2

Union of two sets


The union A  B of two sets A and B, is the set of elements in A or B (or both.)
For example, using the last example A  B = {a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h }.

Venn diagrams
Venn diagrams can be used to give a visual representation of sets and their
elements. For example, if U = {u, v, w, x, y, z} and A = {v, x} then this could be
represented in the following Venn diagram:
A
x y
u v

U w z

Venn diagrams that represent the intersection and union of sets A and B and
disjoint sets A and B are shown below:

Intersection of A and B Union of A and B Disjoint sets


A B A B
A B
AB
AB
U
U
U

Further examples of Venn diagrams

To obtain A  B, say, first diagonally shade in A, then shade B in the other
direction. A  B is the region where there are both types of shading:

A A with B A  B = both shadings


A B A B A B
A  B

A B
Alternatively, A  B means outside A and inside B:
A  B
Page 3

Numbers in regions
Example 1 The numbers in brackets in the following
Venn diagram represent the number of elements in A B
each part (subset) of the universal set U. Find: (9) (5) (12)

(a) n(A  B) = (4)


U

(b) n(U) =

(c) n(A  B) =

(d) n(A  B) =

Problem solving with Venn diagrams

Example 2 In a class of 23 students, 18 of them have PCs at home, 7 have Macs


and 1 has no computer at home. Use sets to find how many students have both
PCs and Macs.

PC Mac

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