CHAPTER 6

Sets and Counting

• Sets and Set Operations

• The Number of Elements in a Finite Set
• The Multiplication Principle
• Permutations and Combinations
 Set: A set is a collection of objects/elements.
Ex. A = {w, a, r, d}

Sets are often named Order of elements doesn’t

with capital letters. matter, no duplicates.

Notation: w is an element of set A is written w  A.

Set-builder notation: rule describes the definite

property (properties) an object x must satisfy to be
part of the set.

Ex. B = {x | x is an even integer}

Read: “x such that x is an even integer”
Set Equality: Two sets A and B are equal, written
A = B, if and only if they have exactly the same
elements.
Ex. A = {w, a, r, d}; B = {d, r, a, w}
Every element in A is in B and
every element in B is in A.

Subset: If every element of a set A is also an element

of a set B then A is a subset of B, and is written A  B.

Ex. A = {r, d}; B = {r, a, w, d, e, t}

Every element in A is also in B

Empty Set: The set that contains no elements is
called the empty set and is denoted .

Note: The empty set is a subset of every set

Universal Set: The set of all elements of interest

in a particular discussion is called the universal set
and is denoted U.
 Set Operations
Set Union: Let A and B be sets. The union of A and
B, written A  B,is the set of all elements that belong
to either A or B.
A  B  x | x  A or x  B

Set Intersection: Let A and B be sets. The

intersection of A and B, written A  B, is the set of
all elements that are common to A and B.

A  B  x | x  A and x  B
Ex. Given the sets:
U  m, a, t , h, r , u , l , e, s
A  m, a, t , h
B  a, h, u , e
Find A  B and A  B.

A  B  m, a, t , h, u , e Combine the sets

A  B  a, h Overlap of
the sets
 Venn Diagrams
– visual representation of sets

U Rectangle =
A B Universal Set
Sets are
represented
by circles

AB AB
 Venn Diagrams
U
A B
A  B C

U
A B
A  B C

C
Complement of a Set: If U is a universal set and
A is a subset of U, then the set of all elements in U
that are not in A is called the complement of A,
written AC.
AC  x | x  U and x  A

Set Complementation

U c   c U

A 
C
C
A

A  AC U A  AC 
 Set Operations
Commutative Laws
A  B B  A
A  B B  A
Associative Laws
 A  B   C  A  B  C 
 A  B   C  A  B  C 
Distributive Laws
A   B  C   A  B    A  C 
A   B  C   A  B    A  C 
 De Morgan’s Laws
Let A and B be sets, then
C
A  B C
A  B C

C
A  B C
A  B C

A B A B

C C
A  B A  B
C C
 A  B   AC
 B C
Ex. Given the sets:
U  m, a, t , h, r , u , l , e, s
A  m, a, t , h
B  a, h, u , e
C C
Find A and A  B .

AC  r , u , l , e, s Elements not in A.

A  B  m, t
C Elements in A and
not in B.
 Venn Diagrams

U
AC A

U
C A B
AB
The Number of Elements in a Set
The number of elements in a set A is denoted n(A).
Ex. Given A  m, a, t , h
B  a, h, u , e
n(A) = 4 Since the union doesn’t
Notice n  A  B  6 count a and h twice

This leads to n  A  B  n  A   n B   n  A  B 

Overlap is
subtracted
Venn Diagram – number of elements
22 U
A B
5
12 31

n U  70, n  A  17, n B  36

n  A  B  5
We can see that n A B C
12   
n B  AC 31
So n  A  B  48


Which leads to n  A  B 
C
 22
 Survey
In a survey of 100 people at a carnival:
40 like cotton candy
30 like popcorn
45 like lemonade
15 like lemonade and popcorn
10 like cotton candy and lemonade
12 like cotton candy and popcorn
5 like all three
How many people don’t like lemonade, popcorn, or cotton candy?
How many people only like popcorn?
 Survey
set C: cotton candy, set P: popcorn, set L: lemonade

n  L  P  C  5 U
n  L  P  15, n C  L  10, P 10 L
8 25
n C  P  12 7 5 5
n(C) = 40, n(P) = 30, 23
n(L) = 45 C 17
n(U) = 100

8 people only like popcorn.

17 people don’t like lemonade, popcorn, or cotton candy.
 The Multiplication Principle
If there are m ways of performing a task T1 and n
ways of performing a task T2, then there are mn
ways of performing task T1 followed by task T2.
Note: This generalizes to the multiplication
principle involving more than two tasks.

Ex. A man has a choice of 8 shirts and 3 different pants.

How many outfits can the man wear?

Considering shirts as task 1 and pants as task 2,

we have 8(3) = 24 outfits
Ex. How many outcomes are possible for a
game that consists of rolling a die followed by
flipping a fair coin?

6 possibilities 2 possibilities

Total of 6(2) = 12 outcomes

Ex. An employee ID for a particular company
consists of the employee’s first initial, last initial,
and last four digits of his/her social security
number. How many possible ID’s are there?

Each Initial has 26 possibilities (A–Z) and each

digit has 10 possibilities (0–9)
26(26)(10)(10)(10)(10) = 6760000

6760000 different IDs possible

 Permutations
A permutation of a set of objects is an arrangement of
these objects in a definite order.

Combinations
A combination is a selection of r objects from a set of
n objects where order is not important r n .
 n–Factorial
For any natural number n,
n ! n(n  1)(n  2) ... 3 2 1
0! 1
Ex. 5! = 5(4)(3)(2)(1) = 120
Ex. 7!  7 6 5! 7 6 42
5! 5!

This notation allows us to write expressions associated

with permutations and combinations in a compact form.
Permutations of n Distinct Objects
The number of permutations of n distinct objects
taken r at a time is given by

n!
P  n, r   where r n 
n  r !
6! 6 5 4 3!
Ex. P 6,3   6 5 4 120
6  3! 3!
 Ex. A boy has 4 beads – red, white, blue, and
yellow. In how many different ways can three of
the beads be strung together in a row?

This is a permutation since the beads will be in

a row (order).
4!
P 4,3  4! 24
4  3!
total number 24 different ways
selected
 Permutations of n Objects,
Not all Distinct
Given n objects with n1 (non-distinct) of type 1,
n2 (non-distinct) of type 2,…, nr (non-distinct) of
type r where n = n1 + n2 + … + nr
then number of permutations of these n objects
taken n at a time is given by

n!
n1 !n2 !...nr !
 Ex. How many distinguishable arrangements are
there of the letters of the word initializing?

There are 12 letters 12!

5!2!
i appears n appears
5 times 2 times

12! 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5!


5!2! 5!2!
12 11 10 9 8 7 6
 1995840
2!
 Combinations of n Objects
The number of combinations of n distinct objects
taken r at a time is given by

n!
C  n, r   where r n 
r !n  r !

Ex. Find C(9, 6).

9! 9 8 7 6! 9 8 7
C 9, 6     = 84
6!9  6 ! 6!3! 3!
 Ex. A boy has 4 beads – red, white, blue, and
yellow. In how many different ways can three of
the beads be chosen to trade away?

This is a combination since they are chosen

without regard to order.

4! 4!
C 4,3   4
3!4  3! 3!

total number 4 different ways

selected