COVER SLIDE
What is a Set?
What is a Set?
A set is a well-defined collection of objects which are
distinct from each other.
❑ The objects in sets may be anything, numbers,
people, mountains, rivers etc.
❑ The objects constituting the set are called elements
or members of the set.
Example:
❑ Odd natural numbers less than 10, i.e. 1, 3, 5, 7, 9.
❑ The rivers of India.
❑ The vowels in the English alphabet, i.e. 𝑎, 𝑒, 𝑖, 𝑜, 𝑢.
❑ Various kinds of triangles.
❑ Prime factors of 210, namely, 2, 3, 5 and 7.
❑ The integers whose squares are less than 20.
... −𝟓 −𝟒 −𝟑 −𝟐 −𝟏 𝟎 𝟏 𝟐 𝟑 𝟒 𝟓 ...
Example:
❑ The collection of good cricket players of India.
❑ The collection of difficult topics in mathematics.
❑ The collection of some months in a year.
Above examples are NOT SET because the objects are
not certain or well defined.
Notation
❑ Sets denoted by capital letters eg. 𝐴, 𝐵, 𝐶, 𝑋, 𝑌, 𝑍 etc. and
the elements by small alphabets eg. 𝑎, 𝑏, 𝑐, 𝑑, 𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧 etc.
❑ If 𝑎 is an element of set 𝐴, then write 𝒂 ∈ 𝑨 and is said as
𝑎 belongs to 𝐴 or 𝑎 is a member of 𝐴.
❑ If 𝑎 does not belong to 𝐴, then we write 𝒂 ∉ 𝑨.
Standard Number Sets
❑ The set of Natural Numbers ℕ
❑ The set of Whole Numbers 𝑊
❑ The set of Integers ℤ
❑ The set of Rational Numbers ℚ
❑ The set of all Real Numbers ℝ
Representation
of a Set
Representation of a SET
There are two common ways of describing or specifying the
members of a set.
Roster
or Set Builder
Tabular Notation
Notation
Roaster or Tabular Notation
Here, the set is described by listing each member of the set,
separated by commas, within curly braces .
Example:
❑ Set of all natural numbers which divide 42
is 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 14, 21, 42
❑ The set of even natural numbers can be described as
{2, 4, 6, ⋯ }. Here the dots ⋯ stand for ‘and so on’.
Features of a Set
❑ The order in which the elements are written in a set makes no difference.
Thus {𝑎, 𝑒, 𝑖, 𝑜, 𝑢} and {𝑒, 𝑎, 𝑖, 𝑜, 𝑢} denote the same set.
❑ The repetition of an element has no effect.
For example: {1, 2, 3, 2} is the same set as 1, 2, 3 .
❑ Set of all letters in the word ‘PROPORTION’ is 𝑃, 𝑅, 𝑂, 𝑇, 𝐼, 𝑁 .
Set Builder Notation
❑ Here, a set is described by specifying the characterizing
properties of its elements.
❑ In other words, a variable 𝑥 (say), denoting each element
of the set is written inside the curly braces and then
after putting a colon, the common property denoted by
𝑃(𝑥) possessed by each element 𝑥 of the set is written
within braces.
Set Builder Notation
Mathematically :
{ 𝒙 ∶ 𝑷(𝒙) holds} or { 𝒙 | 𝑷(𝒙) holds}
which is read as ‘the set of all 𝑥 such that 𝑃(𝑥) is satisfied’.
Set Builder Notation
Example:
❑ The set 𝐸 of all positive multiples of three can be written as
𝐸 = {𝑥 | 𝑥 is natural number and 𝑥 = 3𝑛 for 𝑛 ∈ 𝑁}.
or 𝐸 = 𝑥 𝑥 ∈ 𝑁, 𝑥 = 3𝑛, 𝑛 ∈ 𝑁}
or 𝐸 = 𝑥 ∈ 𝑁 𝑥 = 3𝑛, 𝑛 ∈ 𝑁}
❑ The set 𝐴 = {0, 1, 4, 9, 16, … } can be written as:
𝐴 = 𝑥2 𝑥 ∈ 𝑍}
Write the set 𝐴 = {1, 8, 27, 64, … } in set-builder form.
Match each of the set on the left described in the roster form with the
same set on the right described in the set-builder form
Column-I Column-II
(𝐴) {𝑃, 𝑅, 𝐼, 𝑁, 𝐶, 𝐴, 𝐿} (𝑃) {𝑥 ∶ 𝑥 is a positive integer and is a divisor of 18}
(𝐵) {0} (𝑄) {𝑥 ∶ 𝑥 is an integer and 𝑥2 – 9 = 0 }
(𝐶) {1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 18} (𝑅) {𝑥 ∶ 𝑥 is an integer and 𝑥 + 1 = 1}
(𝐷) {3, − 3} (𝑆) {𝑥 ∶ 𝑥 is a letter of the word 𝑃𝑅𝐼𝑁𝐶𝐼𝑃𝐴𝐿}
List all the elements of the following sets:
(𝑖) 𝐴 = {𝑥 ∶ 𝑥 is an integer, – 0.5 < 𝑥 < 4.5}
(𝑖𝑖) 𝐵 = {𝑥 ∶ 𝑥 is an integer, 𝑥2 ≤ 4}
(𝑖𝑖𝑖) 𝐶 = {𝑥 ∶ 𝑥 is a letter in the word 𝐿𝑂𝑌𝐴𝐿}
Types of Sets
Empty Set
❑ The set which contains no element at all is called the null set.
❑ This set is sometimes also called the ‘empty set’ or the ‘void set’.
❑ It is denoted by the symbol ø or { }.
Example:
❖ 𝐴 = {𝑥 ∶ 𝑥 2 + 1 = 0 and 𝑥 is real}.
❖ 𝐵 = {𝑥 ∶ 𝑥2 – 2 = 0 and 𝑥 is rational number}
Singleton Set
A set consisting of a single element is called a Singleton set.
Example:
❑ 𝐴 = 𝑥 𝑥 2 = 9 and 𝑥 ∈ ℕ} .
❑ 𝐵 = 𝑥 𝑥 is a positive integral root of the
equation 𝑥2 − 2𝑥 − 15 = 0} .
❑ C = { x ∈ ℝ ∶ x − 5 = 0}
Finite Set
A set which has only finite number of elements is called a finite set.
Order of a finite set:
❑ The number of elements in a finite set 𝐴 is called the
order of this set and denoted by 𝑶(𝑨) or 𝒏(𝑨).
❑ It is also called the cardinal number of the set.
Infinite Set
A set which has an infinite number of elements is called an infinite set.
Note:
❑ All infinite sets cannot be described in the roster form.
Example:
❑ The set of real numbers cannot be described in this form.
Identify the type of set:
(𝑖) 𝐴 = 𝑥 ∈ ℕ: 5 < 𝑥 < 6 (𝑖𝑖) 𝐴 = 𝑎, 𝑏, 𝑐
𝑖𝑖𝑖 𝐴 = 1, 2, 3, 4, ⋯ 𝑖𝑣 𝐴 = 1, 2, 6, 7 and 𝐵 = 6, 1, 2, 7, 7
𝑣 𝐴= 0
Which of the following is the empty set ?
a {𝑥 ∶ 𝑥 is a real number and 𝑥 2 − 1 = 0}
b {𝑥 ∶ 𝑥 is a real number and 𝑥 2 + 1 = 0}
c {𝑥 ∶ 𝑥 is a real number and 𝑥 2 − 9 = 0}
d {𝑥 ∶ 𝑥 is a real number and 𝑥 2 = 𝑥 + 2}
The set 𝐴 = {𝑥 ∶ 𝑥 ∈ ℝ, 𝑥 2 = 16 and 2𝑥 = 6} is:
a Null set
b Singleton set
c Infinite set
d None of these
Equal Set
❑ Two sets 𝐴 and 𝐵 are said to be equal if they have exactly the same
elements and we write 𝐴 = 𝐵.
❑ Otherwise, the sets are said to be unequal and we write 𝐴 ≠ 𝐵.
Example:
𝐴 = {𝑥 ∶ 𝑥 is a prime number which divides 42}
𝐵 = {𝑥 ∶ 𝑥 is a root of the 𝑥 2 − 5𝑥 + 6 𝑥 − 7 = 0}
Here, 𝐴 and 𝐵 are equal sets.
Equivalent Set
❑ Two finite sets 𝐴 and 𝐵 are equivalent if their number of elements are same
i.e. 𝑛(𝐴) = 𝑛(𝐵).
Example:
𝐴 = {1, 3, 5, 7, 9} and 𝐵 = {𝑎, 𝑒, 𝑖, 𝑜, 𝑢}
Since, 𝑛(𝐴) = 𝑛(𝐵) = 5
𝐴 and 𝐵 are equivalent sets.
Note: Equal sets are always equivalent but
equivalent sets may not be equal.
THANK YOU
