Unit 3
Sets and Combinations
BY
ANANYA PANDEY
SETS
A set is an unordered collection of objects, called elements or members of the set. A set is
said to contain its elements. We write a ∈ A to denote that a is an element of the set A. The
notation a ∈ A denotes that a is not an element of the set A.
For example, the notation {a, b, c, d} represents the set with the four elements a, b, c, and
d. This way of describing a set is known as the roster method.
The set V of all vowels in the English alphabet can be written as V = {a, e, i, o, u}
The set O of odd positive integers less than 10 can be expressed by O = {1, 3, 5, 7, 9}
Another way to describe a set is to use set builder notation. We characterize all those elements in the
set by stating the property or properties they must have to be members. For instance, the set O of all odd
positive integers less than 10 can be written as,
O = {x | x is an odd positive integer less than 10} OR
O= {x ∈ Z+ | x is odd and x < 10}.
Boldface letter, play an important role in discrete mathematics:
N = {0, 1, 2, 3,...}, the set of natural numbers
Z = {..., −2, −1, 0, 1, 2,...}, the set of integers
Z+ = {1, 2, 3,...}, the set of positive integers
Q = {p/q | p ∈ Z, q ∈ Z, and q = 0}, the set of rational numbers
R,the set of real numbers
R+, the set of positive real numbers
C, the set of complex numbers
Some important things to know
● An open interval does not include its endpoints, and is enclosed in parentheses. (a,b) For example, (0,1)
describes an interval greater than 0 and less than 1.
● A closed interval includes its endpoints, and is enclosed in square brackets. [a,b] For example, [0,1]
describes an interval greater than or equal to 0 and less than or equal to 1.
● An interval is considered bounded if both endpoints are real numbers. An interval is unbounded if both
endpoints are not real numbers.
● Two sets are equal if and only if they have the same elements. Therefore, if A and B are sets, then A and B
are equal if and only if ∀x(x ∈ A ↔ x ∈ B). We write A = B if A and B are equal [Link] sets {1, 3, 5} and
{3, 5, 1} are equal, because they have the same elements. Note that the order in which the elements of a set
are listed does not matter. Note also that it does not matter if an element of a set is listed more than once,
so {1, 3, 3, 3, 5, 5, 5, 5} is the same as the set {1, 3, 5} because they have the same elements.
● Sets can have other sets as [Link] 5 The set {N, Z, Q, R} is a set containing four elements,
each of which is a set. The four elements of this set are N, the set of natural numbers; Z, the set of integers;
Q, the set of rational numbers; and R, the set of real numbers. Note that the concept of a datatype, or type,
in computer science is built upon the concept of a set. A datatype or type is the name of a set, together with
a set of operations that can be performed on objects from that set. For example, boolean is the name of the
set {0,1} together with operators on one or more elements of this set, such as AND, OR, and NOT.
THE EMPTY SET:There is a special set that has no elements. This set is called the empty set, or
null set, and is denoted by ∅. The empty set can also be denoted by { }
A set with one element is called a singleton set.
Venn Diagrams: Sets can be represented graphically using Venn diagrams. In Venn diagrams the
universal set U, which contains all the objects under consideration, is represented by a rectangle.
(Note that the universal set varies depending on which objects are of interest.) Inside this rectangle,
circles or other geometrical figures are used to represent sets. Sometimes points are used to
represent the particular elements of the set. Venn diagrams are often used to indicate the
relationships between sets.
Subsets: The set A is a subset of B if and only if every element of A is also an element of B. We
use the notation A ⊆ B to indicate that A is a subset of the set [Link] see that A ⊆ B if and only if the
quantification ∀x(x ∈ A → x ∈ B) is true.
NOTE: if a set contain “n” elements than the number of subsets possible would be “2^n”.
THEOREM 1 For every set S, (i) ∅ ⊆ S and (ii) S ⊆ S.
Showing Two Sets are Equal
To show that two sets A and B are equal, show that A ⊆ B and B ⊆ [Link] may have other sets as
members. For example A = {∅,{a},{b},{a, b}} and B = {x | x is a subset of the set {a, b}}. Note that
these two sets are equal, that is, A = B. Also note that {a} ∈ A, but a /∈ A
The Size of a Set(Cardinality) Let S be a set. If there are exactly n distinct elements in S where n
is a nonnegative integer, we say that S is a finite set and that n is the cardinality of S. The
cardinality of S is denoted by |S|. The number of element present in a set.
Let A be the set of odd positive integers less than 10. Then |A| = 5.
Let S be the set of letters in the English alphabet. Then |S| = 26.
A set is said to be infinite if it is not finite. For example:The set of positive integers is infinite.
Power Set Given a set S, the power set of S is the set of all subsets of the set S. The power set of
S is denoted by P(S).What is the power set of the set {0, 1, 2}?
Solution: The power set P({0, 1, 2}) is the set of all subsets of {0, 1, 2}. Hence, P({0, 1, 2}) =
{∅,{0},{1},{2},{0, 1},{0, 2},{1, 2},{0, 1, 2}}.
NOTE: if a set contain “n” elements than its power set will contain “2^n” elements i.e. is nothing
but the cardinality of the power set.
Universal Set: Set of all objects under discussion. Denoted by “U”. for example: if you are talking
about people in the class than the set of people all over the world is the Universal set.
OPERATIONS ON SETS
Complement of set: If S is any set its complement will be denoted by Sc (or S′). Sc = U-S
Set Difference: If you have 2 sets A and B than if I write A-B it means that set of all
elements which are present in “A” but not in “B”.
For example if A={1,2,3} and B={3,5}, then A−B={1,2}
Set Intersection: If you have 2 sets A and B than intersection will be set of all elements
which are present in both “A” and “B”.Example- A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10} , B = {2, 4,
7, 12, 14} , A ∩ B = {2, 4, 7}.
Set Union:The union of two sets is a set containing all elements that are in A or in B
(possibly both). For example, {1,2}∪{2,3}={1,2,3}.Thus, we can write x∈(A∪B) if
and only if (x∈A)or (x∈B).Note that A∪B=B∪A.
Symmetric difference/Boolean Sum:
Denoted by A △ B and is defined by
A △ B = (A – B) ∪ (B – A) OR
A △ B = (A U B) - (A ∩ B)
