Introduction to Sets

Basic, Essential, and Important

Properties of Sets

Delano P. Wegener, Ph.D.

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 Definitions
 A set is a collection of objects.

 Objects in the collection are called

elements of the set.

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 Examples - set
The collection of persons living in
Arnold is a set.
 Each person living in Arnold is an element of
the set.

The collection of all counties in the

state of Texas is a set.
 Each county in Texas is an element of the set.

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 Examples - set
The collection of all quadrupeds is a
set.
 Each quadruped is an element of the set.

The collection of all four-legged dogs

is a set.
 Each four-legged dog is an element of the set.

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 Examples - set
The collection of counting numbers is
a set.
 Each counting number is an element of the
set.

The collection of pencils in your

briefcase is a set.
 Each pencil in your briefcase is an element of
the set.

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 Notation
 Sets are usually designated with
capital letters.

 Elements of a set are usually

designated with lower case letters.

 We might talk of the set B. An individual

element of B might then be designated by b.

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 Notation
 The roster method of specifying a
set consists of surrounding the
collection of elements with braces.

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 Example – roster method
For example the set of counting
numbers from 1 to 5 would be written
as
{1, 2, 3, 4, 5}.

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 Example – roster method
A variation of the simple roster method
uses the ellipsis ( … ) when the pattern
is obvious and the set is large.

{1, 3, 5, 7, … , 9007} is the set of odd

counting numbers less than or equal to
9007.

{1, 2, 3, … } is the set of all counting

numbers.
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 Notation
 Set builder notation has the general
form

{variable | descriptive statement }.

The vertical bar (in set builder notation) is always
read as “such that”.

Set builder notation is frequently used when the

roster method is either inappropriate or
inadequate.
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 Example – set builder notation
{x | x < 6 and x is a counting number}
is the set of all counting numbers less
than 6. Note this is the same set as
{1,2,3,4,5}.
{x | x is a fraction whose numerator is
1 and whose denominator is a
counting number }.
Set builder notation will become much more concise and
precise as more information is introduced.

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 Notation – is an element of
 If x is an element of the set A, we
write this as x  A. x  A means x is
not an element of A.
If A = {3, 17, 2 } then
3  A, 17  A, 2  A and 5  A.

If A = { x | x is a prime number } then

5  A, and 6  A.

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 Venn Diagrams
It is frequently very helpful to depict a
set in the abstract as the points inside
a circle ( or any other closed shape ).

We can picture the set A as

the points inside the circle A
shown here.
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 Venn Diagrams
To learn a bit more about Venn
diagrams and the man John Venn
History
who first presented these diagrams
click on the history icon at the right.

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 Venn Diagrams
Venn Diagrams are used in mathematics,
logic, theological ethics, genetics, study
of Hamlet, linguistics, reasoning, and
many other areas.

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 Definition
 The set with no elements is called the
empty set or the null set and is
designated with the symbol .

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 Examples – empty set
The set of all pencils in your briefcase
might indeed be the empty set.

The set of even prime numbers

greater than 2 is the empty set.

The set {x | x < 3 and x > 5} is the

empty set.
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 Definition - subset
 The set A is a subset of the set B if
every element of A is an element of
B.

 If A is a subset of B and B contains

elements which are not in A, then A is
a proper subset of B.

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 Notation - subset
If A is a subset of B we write
A  B to designate that relationship.

If A is a proper subset of B we write

A  B to designate that relationship.

If A is not a subset of B we write

A  B to designate that relationship.
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 Example - subset
The set A = {1, 2, 3} is a subset of the set
B ={1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6} because each
element of A is an element of B.

We write A  B to designate this

relationship between A and B.

We could also write

{1, 2, 3}  {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}
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 Example - subset
The set A = {3, 5, 7} is not a subset
of the set B = {1, 4, 5, 7, 9} because
3 is an element of A but is not an
element of B.

The empty set is a subset of every

set, because every element of the
empty set is an element of every
other set.
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 Example - subset
The set
A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5} is a subset of the set
B = {x | x < 6 and x is a counting number}
because every element of A is an element
of B.

Notice also that B is a subset of A because every

element of B is an element of A.

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 Definition
 Two sets A and B are equal if A  B
and B  A. If two sets A and B are
equal we write A = B to designate
that relationship.

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 Example - equality
The sets
A = {3, 4, 6} and B = {6, 3, 4} are
equal because A  B and B  A.

The definition of equality of sets shows that the

order in which elements are written does not
affect the set.

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 Example - equality
If A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5} and
B = {x | x < 6 and x is a counting number}
then A is a subset of B because every element
of A is an element of B and B is a subset of A
because every element of B is an element of A.

Therefore the two sets are equal and

we write A = B.
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 Example - equality
The sets A = {2} and B = {2, 5} are not
equal because B is not a subset of A. We
would write A ≠ B. Note that A  B.

The sets A = {x | x is a fraction} and

B = {x | x = ¾} are not equal because A
is not a subset of B. We would write
A ≠ B. Note that B  A.

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 Definition - intersection
 The intersection of two sets A and
B is the set containing those elements
which are
elements of A and elements of B.

We write A  B

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 Example - intersection
If A = {3, 4, 6, 8} and
B = { 1, 2, 3, 5, 6} then
A  B = {3, 6}

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 Example - intersection
If A = { , , , , , , , ,  }
and B = { , , , @, ,  } then
A ∩ B = { ,  }

If A = { , , , , , , , , }
and B = { , , ,  } then
A ∩ B = { , , ,  } = B
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 Example - intersection
If A is the set of prime numbers and
B is the set of even numbers then
A∩B={2}

If A = {x | x > 5 } and
B = {x | x < 3 } then
A∩B=

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 Example - intersection
If A = {x | x < 4 } and
B = {x | x >1 } then
A ∩ B = {x | 1 < x < 4 }

If A = {x | x > 4 } and
B = {x | x >7 } then
A ∩ B = {x | x < 7 }
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Venn Diagram - intersection
A is represented by the red circle and B is
represented by the blue circle.
When B is moved to overlap a
portion of A, the purple
colored region
illustrates the intersection
A∩B
of A and B
Excellent online interactive demonstration

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 Definition - union
 The union of two sets A and B is the set
containing those elements which are
elements of A or elements of B.

We write A  B

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 Example - Union
If A = {3, 4, 6} and
B = { 1, 2, 3, 5, 6} then
A  B = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}.

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 Example - Union
If A = { , , , , ,  }
and B = { , , , @, ,  } then
A  B = {, , , , , , , , @,  }

If A = { , , , , }
and B = {, ,  } then
A  B = {, , , ,  } = A
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 Example - Union
If A is the set of prime numbers and
B is the set of even numbers then
A  B = {x | x is even or x is prime }.

If A = {x | x > 5 } and
B = {x | x < 3 } then
A  B = {x | x < 3 or x > 5 }.

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 Venn Diagram - union
A is represented by the red circle and B is
represented by the blue circle.
The purple colored region
illustrates the intersection.
The union consists of all
A∩B
points which are colored
red or blue or purple.

Excellent online interactive demonstration AB

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 Algebraic Properties
 Union and intersection are
commutative operations.

AB=BA

A∩B=B∩A

For additional information about the algebra of sets go HERE

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 Algebraic Properties
 Union and intersection are associative
operations.

(A  B)  C = A  (B  C)

(A ∩ B) ∩ C = B ∩ (A ∩ C)
For additional information about the algebra of sets go HERE

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 Algebraic Properties
 Two distributive laws are true.

A ∩ ( B  C )= (A ∩ B)  (A ∩ C)

A  ( B ∩ C )= (A  B) ∩ (A  C)
For additional information about the algebra of sets go HERE

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 Algebraic Properties
A few other elementary properties of
intersection and union.

A   =A A∩=

AA=A A∩A=A

For additional information about the algebra of sets go HERE

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 Continued Study
The study of sets is extensive,
sophisticated, and quite abstract.

Even at the elementary level many

considerations have been omitted from
this presentation.

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 Continued Study
For further references check Amazon
for books about Set Theory.

Google Set Theory

The best online resource seems to be this
Wikipedia page about the Algebra of Sets.
Be sure to follow all the links from that page.
Some Elementary Exercises are HERE
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