GEC 14: Mathematics in the Modern World

CHAPTER 2 : Mathematical Language

and Symbols
• Characteristics of Mathematical Language
• Expression vs. Sentences
• Conventions in the Mathematical Language
• Four Basic Concepts

Ms. Mayca N. Odeña

Instructor
Mathematical
Language
The mathematical language is the system used to
communicate mathematical ideas. This language consists
of some natural language using technical terms
(mathematical terms) and grammatical conventions that
are uncommon to mathematical discourse, supplemented
by a highly specialized symbolic notation for
mathematical formulas.
 Characteristics of Mathematical Language
The characteristic of mathematical language is being precise, concise, and powerful.
• Precision in mathematics is like a culture of being correct all the time. Definition and limits
should be distinction. Mathematical ideas is being developed informally and being done more
formally, with necessary and sufficient conditions stated up front and restricting the discussion
to a particular class of objects.
• Mathematical language must be concise or shows simplicity. Being concise is a strong part of
the culture in mathematical language. The mathematician desires the simplest possible single
exposition at the price of additional terminology and machinery to allow all of the various
particularities to be subsumed into the exposition at the highest possible level.
• Mathematical language must also be powerful. It is a way of expressing complex thoughts with
relative ease. The abstraction in mathematics is the desire to unify diverse instances under a
single conceptual framework and allows easier penetration of the subject and the development of
more powerful methods.
"Mathematics is the language in
which God has written the
universe."
~ Galileo Galilei
Expression
Vs.
Sentences
• An expression (or mathematical expression) is a finite combination of symbols
that is well- defined according to rules that depend on the context. The symbols can
designate numbers, variables, operations, functions, brackets, punctuations, and
groupings to help determine order of operations, and other aspects of mathematical
syntax. An expression is a correct arrangement of mathematical symbols used to
represent the object of interest, it does not contain a complete thought, and it cannot
be determined if it is true or false. Some types of expressions are numbers, sets, and
functions.

• A sentence (or mathematical sentence) makes a statement about two expressions,

either using numbers, variables, or a combination of both. A mathematical sentence
can also use symbols or words like equals, greater than, or less than. A mathematical
sentence is a correct arrangement of mathematical symbols that states a complete
thought and can be determined whether it's true, false, sometimes true/sometimes
false.
Conventions in the
Mathematical
Language
A mathematical convention is a fact, name,
notation, or usage which is generally agreed upon by
mathematicians. Mathematicians abide by
conventions to be able to understand what they write
without constantly having to redefine basic terms.
Almost all mathematical names and symbols are
conventional.

Example: PEMDAS
• Mathematics also has its own brand of technical terms. In some cases, a
word in general usage has a different and specific meaning within
mathematics-some examples are group, ring, field, term, factor, etc.
• In other cases, special terms have been introduced some examples are
tensor, fractal, functor, etc.
• Mathematical statements also have its own taxonomy like axiom,
conjecture, theorems, lemma and corollaries.
• There are also some mathematical phrases (or mathematical jargon)
used with specific meanings, such as "if and only if", necessary and
sufficient" and without loss of generality".
• The vocabulary of mathematics also has visual elements. It is being used informally on
blackboards, as well as more formally in books and researches which serve to display
schematic information more easily.
• The mathematical notation has its own grammar and does not dependent on a specific
natural language, but shared internationally by mathematicians regardless of their
country's spoken language. This includes the conventions that the formulas are written
predominantly left to right, even when the writing system of the substrate language is
right-to-left, and that the Latin alphabet is commonly used for simple variables and
parameters.
• Mathematical Language consists of making use of mathematics symbolism.
Understanding mathematics is realizing what symbolism corresponds to the structure that
has been abstracted. It is not enough for an individual to understand mathematics, we
must also know how to speak mathematics by knowing how to handle symbols.
• Typographical conventions in mathematical provide uniformity across
mathematical texts and help individuals to grasp concepts quickly.
• Mathematical notation includes letters from various alphabets, as well
as special mathematical symbols. Letters in various fonts often have
specific, fixed meanings in particular areas of mathematics. In general,
anything that represents a variable should be set in italic and this applies
to characters from the Latin/English aplphabet (a, b, c, …; A, B, C, …) as to
letters from any other alphabet, most notably Greek (𝛼, 𝛽, 𝛾, … 𝐴, 𝐵). Usage
of subscripts (e.g 𝑥𝑛 ) and superscripts (e.g. 𝑥 𝑛 ) is also an important
convention. Likewise, in some special cases symbols are used to represent
general, such as a 𝜋 used to represent the ratio of a circle's circumference
to its diameter.
 Basic
Concepts
A.) Language
of Sets
Language serves as a tool for teaching mathematical concepts. It can show
how to make syntax and structure of mathematical language clear and
explicit to understand the fundamental mathematical concepts.

A. Language of Sets
Set theory is the branch of mathematics that studies sets or the
mathematical science of the infinite. The study of sets has become a
fundamental theory in mathematics in 1870s which was introduced by
Georg Cantor (1845-1918), a German mathematician. A set is a well-
defined collection of objects; the objects are called the elements or
members of the set. The symbol e is used to denote that an object is an
element of a set, and the symbol & denotes that an object is not an element
of a set.
Example 1: Some example of sets

a. A = { x/x is a positive integer less than 10 }

b. B = { x/x is a real number and 𝑥 2 − 1 = 0 }
c. C = { x/x is a letter in the word dirt }
d. D = { x/x is an integer, 1 < x <8 }
e. E = { x|x rangle is a set of vowel letters }
 Two ways to represent sets:
• Roster method is when the elements of the set are enumerated
and separated by a comma, it is also called tabulation method.
Example: E = { a, e, i, o, u }

• Rule method is used to describe the elements or members of

the set it is also called set builder notation, symbol is written as {
x | P(x) }.
Example: E = { x/x is a collection of vowel letters }
• A finite set is a set whose elements are limited or
countable, and the last element can be identified.
• Infinite set is a set whose elements are unlimited or
uncountable, and the last element cannot be specified.

Some examples of finite sets are A = { x/x is a positive integer

less than 10 } and C = { d, i, r, t } while examples of infinite
sets are F ={ ...,-2,-1,0,1,2,... } and G = { x|x is a set of whole
numbers).
• A unit set is a set with only one element, it is also called singleton.
• Empty set (null set) - the unique set with no elements. It is denoted by the
symbol or ||.
• Universal set - All sets under investigation in any application of set theory
are assumed to be contained in some large fixed set called the universal set,
denoted by the symbol U.

Examples of unit set: I = { x/x is a whole number greater than 1 but less than 3}
F={w}
Examples of empty set: L = {x/x is an integer less than 2 but greater than 1
M ={ x|x is a number of panda bear in Manila Zoo }
Example of universal set: U ={ x|x is a positive integer }
U= { 1, 2, 3 ,...,100 }
• Cardinal number of a set - the number of elements or members in the set, the
cardinality of set A is denoted by n(A).
Example 1: E = { a, e, i, o, u }
The cardinal number of E is 5 or n(E) = 5
Example 2: A = { xІx is a positive integer less than 10), which can also be written as
(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) has a cardinal number of A is 9 or n(A) = 9

• If A and B are sets, A is called subset of B, written A ⊆ B, if and only if, every
element of A is also an element of B. Symbolically: A ⊆ 𝐵 ⟺ ∀𝑥, 𝑥 ∈ 𝐴 → 𝑥 ∈ 𝐵.
Example: If A = { c, d, e }, B = { a, b, c, d, e} and U = { a, b, c, d, e, f, g } then 𝐴 ⊆ 𝐵.
• A is a proper subset of B, written A ⊂ B if and only if, every element
of A is in B but there is at least one element of B that is not in A. On
contrary, the symbol ⊂ denotes that it is not a proper subset.
Example: Suppose A= { c, d, e } B = {a, b, c, d, e}, C = { e, a, c, b, d } and
U = { a, b, c, d, e, f, g } then A and C are both subsets of B; but A ⊂ B,
whereas C ⊂ B

• A equals B, written, A = B if and only if, every element of A is in B

and every element of B is in A. Symbolically: 𝐴 = 𝐵 ⟺ (𝐴 ⊆
𝐵)⋀(𝐴 ⊆ 𝐵).
Example: Suppose A = {a, b, c, d, e}, B = {a, b, d, e, c} and U = { a, b, c,
d, e, f, g }, then A ⊆ B and B ⊆ A, therefore A = B.
• Given a set S from universe U, the power set of S
denoted by ℘ (S) is the collection (or sets) of all subsets
of S.

Example: The power set of A = {e, f} is ℘ (A) = 2𝑛 = 22 =

4 , thus ℘ (A) has 4 elements: ℘ (A) = { {e}, {f}, {e, f} , { } }
SET OPERATIONS
The operations on sets are union of sets, intersection of sets, complement of a
set, difference of two sets, and symmetric difference of sets.
• The union of A and B, denoted A U B, is the set of all elements x in U such that
x is in A or x is in B. Symbolically: 𝐴 ∪ 𝐵 = 𝑥ǀ𝑥 ∈ 𝐴 ∨ 𝑥 ∈ 𝐵 .
• Let A and B be subsets of a universal set U. The intersection of A and B,
denoted 𝐴 ∩ 𝐵, is the set of all elements x in U such that x is in A and x is in B.
Symbolically, 𝐴 ∩ 𝐵 = 𝑥ǀ𝑥 ∈ 𝐴 ∧ 𝑥 ∈ 𝐵 .

EXAMPLE: Let A and B be subsets of a universal set U. 𝐴 = 𝑎, 𝑏, 𝑐 ; 𝐵 = {𝑐, 𝑑, 𝑒}

and 𝑈 = 𝑎, 𝑏, 𝑐, 𝑑, 𝑒, 𝑓, 𝑔 . Then 𝐴 ∪ 𝐵={a, b, c, d, e} and 𝐴 ∩ 𝐵 = {𝑐}.
• The complement of A (or absolute complement of A) denoted A’, is the set of all elements x in
U such that x is not in A. Symbolically: 𝐴′ = 𝑥 ∈ 𝑈 ǀ 𝑥 ∉ 𝐴
EXAMPLE: Let A and B be subsets of a universal set U. If 𝐴 = 𝑎, 𝑏, 𝑐, 𝑑, 𝑒 and U = 𝑎, 𝑏, 𝑐, 𝑑, 𝑒 ,
then 𝐴′ = {f, g}

• The difference of A and B (or relative complement of B with respect to A), denoted 𝐴 − 𝐵, is
the set of all elements x in U such that x is in A and x is not in B. Symbolically: 𝐴 − 𝐵 =
𝑥ǀ𝑥 ∈ 𝐴 ∧ 𝑥 ∉ 𝐵 = 𝐴 ∩ 𝐵′.
EXAMPLE: Let A and B be subsets of a universal set U. If 𝐴 = 𝑎, 𝑏, 𝑐 and 𝐴 = 𝑐, 𝑑, 𝑒 and U =
𝑎, 𝑏, 𝑐, 𝑑, 𝑒, 𝑓, 𝑔 , then 𝐴 − 𝐵 = 𝑎, 𝑏 .

• If set A and B are two sets, their symmetric difference as the set consisting of all elements
that belong to A or to B, but not to both A and B, denoted by A 𝐵 . Symbolically:
A 𝐵 = 𝑥ǀ𝑥 ∈ 𝐴⋃𝐵 ⋀𝑥 ∉ 𝐴⋂𝐵 = 𝐴⋃𝐵 ⋂ 𝐴⋂𝐵 ′ 𝑜𝑟(𝐴⋂𝐵) ∼ (𝐴⋂𝐵) .
EXAMPLE: If 𝐴 = {𝑎, 𝑏, 𝑐} and 𝐵 = {𝑐, 𝑑, 𝑒} and 𝑈 = {𝑎, 𝑏, 𝑐, 𝑑, 𝑒, 𝑓, 𝑔, ℎ}, then A 𝐵 =
{𝑎, 𝑏, 𝑑, 𝑒}.
• Two set are called disjoint (or non-intersecting) if and only if, they have no elements in
common. Symbolically: A and B are disjoint ⟺ 𝐴 ∩ 𝐵 = ∅.
EXAMPLE: Let A and B be subsets of a universal set U. 𝐴 = {𝑎, 𝑏, 𝑐} and 𝐵 = {𝑑, 𝑒}. Since 𝐴 ∩ 𝐵 =
∅, therefore A and B are disjoint sets.

• In the ordered pair (a, b), a is called the first component and b is called the second component.
In general, (a, b) ≠ (b,a). For example, (2,5) = (9 - 7, 2 + 3) while (2, 5) ≠ (5,2) .

• The Cartesian product of sets A and B, written A×B is A×B={ 𝑎, 𝑏 ǀ𝑎 ∈ 𝐴 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏 ∈ 𝐵}.
EXAMPLE: If A = {2, 3, 5} and B = {7, 8}, to get A×B we pair each element of A with each element of
B. The results as ordered pairs, with each element of A written first and the element of B written
second such as A×B = {(2, 7), (2, 8), (3, 7), (3, 8), (5, 7), (5, 8)}
ACTIVITY
TIME!
B. Language of
Functions and
Relations
A relation is a set of ordered pairs. If x and y are elements of
these sets and if a relation exists between x and y, then we say that
x corresponds to y or that y depends on x and is represented as the
ordered pair of (x, y). A relation from set A to set B is defined to
be any subset of A×B. If R is a relation from A to B (a, b) ∈ R, then
we say that "a is related to b" and it is denoted as a R b.

A special kind of relation is function, one of the most important

concepts in the study of mathematics. An understanding of the
concept is necessary for those with an interest in the field of
mathematics, physics, engineering, economics, or any discipline
dealing with quantitative relationships.
Functions help us visualize relationships in terms of graphs
and make it easier to interpret different behavior of variables.
Functions are mathematical building blocks for financial
applications, economics (profit, revenue, and cost),
medicine, engineering, different fields of sciences, and
others. Some concrete applications of functions are
predicting natural disasters, calculating pH levels,
measuring decibels for sound intensity, and designing
machineries among others.
A function is a relation in which, for each value of the
first component of the ordered pairs, there is exactly one
value of the second component. The set X is called the
domain of the function. For each element of x in X, the
corresponding element y in Y is called the value of the
function at x, or the image of x. The set of all images of
the elements of the domain is called the range of the
function. A function can also be expressed as a
correspondence or mapping from one set to another.
 Figure 1.1

The mapping in Figure 1.1 is a function that assigns

to x to y. The domain of the function is {a, b, c, d}
while the range is {s, t, u, v}
Let us have another example by using set of ordered pairs of the relations.
Now let us determine whether each of the following relations is a function.

A = {(1, 3), (2, 4), (3, 5), (4, 6)}

B = {(- 2, 7), (- 1, 3), (0, 1), (1, 5), (2, 5)}
C= {(3, 0), (3, 2), (7, 4), (9, 1)}
Relation A and B are function, because for each x-values,
there is only one y-value. Notice that in B, the last two
ordered pairs have the same y-value. This does not violate
the definition of a function, since each first component (x-
value) has only one second component (y-value). Relation
C is not a function, because the first two ordered pairs
have the same x-value, but different in y-values. This
violates the definition of a function.
ACTIVITY
TIME!
C. Language of
Binary
Operations
The study of algebraic structures focuses on investigating sets
associated by single operations that satisfy certain reasonable
axioms; that is, to define an operation on a set in a way that will
generalize such familiar structures as the integers together with
the single operation of addition, or invertible 2x2 matrices
together with the single operation of matrix multiplication.
The integers under addition and the 2x2 matrices under
multiplication, are examples of algebraic structures known as
group.
Let G be a set, and ∗ said to be a binary operation on S, if a ∗b is
defined for all a, b ∈ G. In other words, ∗ is a rule for any two
elements in the set S.

A group is a set of elements, with one operation, that satisfies

the following properties: (i) the set is closed with respect to the
operation, (ii) the operation satisfies the associative property,
(iii) there is an identity element, and (iv) each element has an
inverse.
In other word, a group is an ordered pair ( G, ∗) where G is a set and ∗ is a
binary operation on G satisfying the four properties.

1. Closure property. If any elements are combined using the operation,

the result must be an element of the set. a ∗ b = c ∈ G, for all a, b, c ∈ G.
2. Associative property. (a ∗ b) ∗ c = a ∗ (b ∗ c) for all a, b, c ∈ G
3. Identity property. There exists an element e in G, such that for all 𝑎 ∈
𝐺, 𝑎 ∗ 𝑒 = 𝑒 ∗ 𝑎.
4. Inverse property. For each 𝑎 ∈ 𝐺 there is an element 𝑎−1 of G, such
that 𝑎 ∗ 𝑎−1 = 𝑎−1 ∗ 𝑎 = 𝑒.
Example 1: Determine whether the set of all non-negative integers under addition is a group.

Solution:
We will apply the four properties to test the set of all non-negative integers under addition is a
group.

Step 1: To test for closure property, we choose any two positive integers, for example
8+4 = 12 and 5+10=15
Notice that the sum of two numbers of the set, the result is always a number of the set. Thus, it
is closed.

Step 2: To test for associative property, we choose three positive integers, for example
3 + (2 + 4) = 3 + 6 = 9
(3 + 2) + 4 = 5 + 4 = 9
Thus, it also satisfies the associative property.
Step 3: To test for identity property, we choose any positive integer,
for example
8 + 0 = 8; 9 + 0 = 9; 15+0 =15

Step 4: To test for inverse property, we choose any positive integer, for
example
4+(-4)=0; 10+(-10)=0; 23+(-23)=0

Note that 𝑎−1 = −𝑎. Thus, it also satisfies the inverse property.

Thus, the set of all non-negative integers under addition is a group,

since it satisfies the four properties.
ACTIVITY
TIME!