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Set Theory
Introduction
 Georg Cantor (1845-1918), a German mathematician, initiated the concept
‘Theory of sets’ or ‘Set Theory’. While working on “Problems on Trigonometric
Series”,

 He encountered sets, that have become one of the most fundamental concepts in
mathematics. Without understanding sets, it will be difficult to explain the other
concepts such as relations, functions, sequences, probability, geometry, etc.

 The concept of set serves as a fundamental concept of the present day

mathematics. Today this concept is being used in almost every branch of
mathematics. Sets are used to define the concepts of relation and function. The
study of geometry, sequences, probability, etc. requires knowledge of sets. In this
unit, we discuss basic definitions and operations involving sets.

What is Set?

 A set is a collection of well-define objects.

 Each of the objects in the set is called an elements or members of the set.
 The set is denoted by capital letters like, A, B, C, …
 The elements of a set is denoted by lower case letters like, a, b, c, ….

Examples of a set:

1. A collection of all vowels from alphabets is a set, A = {𝑎, 𝑒, 𝑖, 𝑜, 𝑢}

2. A collection of positive integer number less than 5 is a set, B = {1,2,3,4}
3. A group of first five prime number is a set, C = {2,3,5,7,11}
4. A collection of all straight lines in 2-D is a set
5. A collection of all engineering college of Rajkot
6. A collection of all the rivers of India
7. A collection of all 2×2 order matrices

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Some Standard Set in Mathematics

 Set of Natural numbers

N = {1,2,3, … … }
 Set of Whole numbers
W = {0,1,2,3, … … }
 Set of Integers
Z = I = {… … , −2, −1,0,1,2, … … }
 Set of Rational numbers
𝑝
Q = {𝑥 | 𝑥 = , 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑝 ∈ Z 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑞 ∈ N}
𝑞
 Set of Real numbers
R = {𝑥 | 𝑥 = 𝑎 + 𝑏√𝑐 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎, 𝑏 ∈ Q 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐 ∈ Q+ }
 Set of Complex numbers
C = {𝑥 | 𝑥 = 𝑎 + 𝑏𝑖 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎, 𝑏 ∈ R 𝑎𝑛𝑑 √−1 = 𝑖 }

Representation of Set

 Roster Form (Listing Method)

In roster form, all the elements of the set are listed without repetitions, separated
by commas and enclosed between curly braces.

For example, If set L represent all the letters from the word ‘ADDRESS’ then it
would be represent using roster form as, L = {𝐴, 𝐷, 𝑅, 𝐸, 𝑆} = {𝑅, 𝐷, 𝑆, 𝐴, 𝐸}

 Set Builder Form (Property Method)

In set builder form, all the elements have common property. This property is not
applicable to the object that doesn’t belongs to the set.

For example, if set S represent all the elements which are prime numbers then it
could be represent using set builder form as,
S = {𝑥 | 𝑥 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟}

Example: If the set B represent all the natural number which is between 2 to 9
then represent this set using roster and set builder form.
Solution: In roster form, B = {3,4,5,6,7,8}
In set builder form, B = {𝑥 | 2 < 𝑥 < 9, 𝑥 ∈ 𝑁}

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Example: Find roster form of A = {𝑥 2 | 𝑥 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟; 𝑥 < 10}.

The roster form is A = {4,9,25,49}

Example: Find roster form of A = {2𝑥 − 1 | 𝑥 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟; 2 < 𝑥 < 14}.
The roster form is A = {7,11,15,19,23}

Example: Find roster form of A = {𝑥 + 1 | 𝑥 2 < 40; 𝑥 ∈ N}.

The roster form is A = {2,3,4,5,6,7}

Example: Find roster form of A = {2𝑥 | 𝑥 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟}.

The roster form is A = {4}

Type of Sets

The sets are categorised into different types based on elements or types of elements

 Finite Set: The number of elements in set are finite

 Infinite Set: The number of elements in set are infinite
 Empty Set: It has no elements. It is denoted as ∅ or { }
 Singleton Set: It has only one element
 Equal Sets: Two sets are called equal if they have same elements
 Equivalent Sets: Two sets are called equivalent if they have same number of
elements.
 Universal Set: It is a set that has all the elements associated with a given set.
(It is a set of all related sets)

What is Subset?

 The set A is called a subset of set B if all the elements of set A are also present in
set B. (Set A is contained inside set B)
 If A is a subset of set B then it is denoted by, A ⊂ B and set B is called superset of
set A.
 Every set is a subset of itself that is, If A is any set then A ⊂ A
 Empty set is a subset of every set, that is ∅ ⊂ A
 If A ⊂ B and B ⊂ A then we can say that A = B
 𝐍⊂𝐖⊂𝐙⊂𝐐⊂𝐑⊂𝐂

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Operations On Set

 Union of Two Sets

The union of two sets A and B is equal to the set of elements that are present in
set A or in set B or in both the sets A and B.
A ∪ B = {𝑥 | 𝑥 ∈ A or 𝑥 ∈ B}
 Intersection of Two Sets
The intersection of two sets A and B is the set of all those elements which are
common to both sets A and B.
A ∩ B = {𝑥 | 𝑥 ∈ A and 𝑥 ∈ B}
 Difference of Two Sets
The difference of two sets A and B is the set of all those elements of set A which
are not in set B.
A − B = {𝑥 | 𝑥 ∈ A and 𝑥 ∉ B}
 Symmetric Difference of Two Sets
The symmetric difference of set A and B is given by,
A ∆ B = A ⊕ B = (A ∪ B) – (A ∩ B)
 Complement of a Set
The complement of set A is the set of all elements which are in universal set but
not in set A.
A′ = {𝑥 | 𝑥 ∈ U and 𝑥 ∉ A}

A∪B A∩B A′ A∆B

Note:

 If any element 𝑥 ∈ (A ∪ B) ⇔ 𝑥 ∈ A or 𝑥 ∈ B
 If any element 𝑥 ∈ (A ∩ B) ⇔ 𝑥 ∈ A and 𝑥 ∈ B
 If any element 𝑥 ∉ (A ∪ B) ⇔ 𝑥 ∉ A and 𝑥 ∉ B

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Cartesian Product of Two Sets

 The Cartesian product of two non-empty sets A and B is the set of all possible
distinct ordered pairs of the form (𝑎, 𝑏)
The Cartesian product of two non-empty sets A and B is given by,

A × B = {(𝑎, 𝑏) | 𝑎 ∈ A and 𝑏 ∈ B}

Note: In ordered pairs, the order of an elements is important [(𝒂, 𝒃) ≠ (𝒃, 𝒂)]

Example: If two sets A and B are A = {1,2,3} and B = {6,7} then the Cartesian
product of two sets A × B is given by,
A × B = {(1,6), (1,7), (2,6), (2,7), (3,6), (3,7)} and
B × A = {(6,1), (6,2), (6,3), (7,1), (7,2), (7,3)}
Hence, we can say that A × B ≠ B × A

 If set A contains 𝒎 elements and set B contains 𝒏 elements then the Cartesian
product A × B has 𝒎𝒏 elements.
 A× ∅=∅

Power Set of any Set

 The power set of any set A is a set of all the possible subsets of set A including
the empty set and set A itself.
P(A) = {X | X ⊂ A}
 The power set of any set A is usually denoted by P(A)
 If set A has 𝑛 number of elements then the total no. of elements in power set of A
is 2𝑛 .
 The cardinality of power set is |P(A)| = 2𝑛

Example: If set A is given as A = {1,2,3} then find the power set of set A.
Here, set A has 3 elements so the power set of A has 23 = 8 elements.
P(A) = {∅, {1}, {2}, {3}, {1,2}, {1,3}, {2,3}, {1,2,3}}
Here ∅ and {1,2,3} are called improper subsets of set A. All other subsets are called
proper subsets of A

Example: If set A is empty set that is A = ∅ = { } then find the power set of set A.
Here, set A has 0 element so the power set of A has 20 = 1 elements.
P(A) = {∅} = {{ }}

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Example: If set A is given as A = {1} then find the power set of set A.
Here, set A has 1 element so the power set of A has 21 = 2 elements.
P(A) = {∅, {1}}

Example: If set A is given as A = {∅} then find the power set of set A.
Here, set A has 1 element so the power set of A has 21 = 2 elements
P(A) = {∅, {∅}}

Disjoint Sets

 Two sets A and B are said to be disjoint set if A ∩ B = ∅

Partition of a Set

 Let A be a set and 𝐴1 , 𝐴2 , 𝐴3 , … 𝐴𝑛 are subsets of set A then 𝐴1 , 𝐴2 , 𝐴3 , … 𝐴𝑛 are said

to be partition of set A if,
 𝐴1 ∪ 𝐴2 ∪ 𝐴3 ∪ … ∪ 𝐴𝑛 = 𝐴 and
 𝐴1 , 𝐴2 , 𝐴3 , … 𝐴𝑛 are pairwise disjoint sets that is for any two set 𝐴𝑖 ∩ 𝐴𝑗 = ∅

Example: Let set A = {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8} and subsets of A are 𝐴1 = {1,4,8},

𝐴2 = {2}, 𝐴3 = {3,5,6,7}. Check whether the subsets 𝐴1 , 𝐴2 and 𝐴3 are partitions of
set A or not?
𝐴𝑛𝑠. Yes

Example: Let set A = {1,2,3,5,7,8,9} and subsets of A are 𝐴1 = {2,3} , 𝐴2 = {5,7,8} ,

𝐴3 = {9} , 𝐴4 = {1}. Check whether the subsets 𝐴1 , 𝐴2 , 𝐴3 and 𝐴4 are partitions of
set A or not?
𝐴𝑛𝑠. Yes

Example: Let set A = {2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9} and subsets of A are 𝐴1 = {2,8},

𝐴2 = {3,4,5,7,9}, 𝐴3 = {5,6,7}. Check whether the subsets 𝐴1 , 𝐴2 and 𝐴3 are
partitions of set A or not?
𝐴𝑛𝑠. No because 𝐴2 ∩ 𝐴3 = {5,7} ≠ ∅

Example: A – B, B – A, and A ∩ B are partition of A ∪ B.

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Some Important Results of Set Operation

 If B ⊂ A then A ∩ B = B and A ∪ B = A
 A ∪ B = B ∪ A (Commutative law)
 (A ∪ B) ∪ C = A ∪ (B ∪ C) (Associative law)
 A ∪ ∅ = A (Identity law)
 U∪A=U
 A ∩ B = B ∩ A (Commutative law)
 (A ∩ B) ∩ C = A ∩ (B ∩ C) (Associative law)
 A ∩ B ∩ C = A – [(A − B) ∪ (A − C)]
 A∩∅=∅
 U∩A=A
 A∆B=B∆A
 (A ∆ B) ∆ C = A ∆ (B ∆ C)
 A∆A=∅
 A∆∅ =A
 A–B≠B–A
 A – B = A – (A ∩ B)
 B – A = B – (A ∩ B)
 A ∆ B = (A – B) ∪ (B – A)
 U′ = ∅
 ∅′ = U
 A ∪ A′ = U
 A ∩ A′ = ∅
 (A ∪ B)′ = A′ ∩ B′ (De Morgan’s law)
 (A ∩ B)′ = A′ ∪ B′ (De Morgan’s law)
 A ∪ (B ∩ C) = (A ∪ B) ∩ (A ∪ C) (Distributive law)
 A ∩ (B ∪ C) = (A ∩ B) ∪ (A ∩ C) (Distributive law)
 A – (B ∪ C) = (A − B) ∩ (A − C)
 A – (B ∩ C) = (A − B) ∪ (A − C)

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 A ∩ (B ∆ C) = (A ∩ B) ∆ (A ∩ C)
 A ∩ B′ = A – B = A – (A ∩ B)
 B ∩ A′ = B – A = B – (A ∩ B)
 A × (B ∪ C) = (A × B) ∪ (A × C)
 A × (B ∩ C) = (A × B) ∩ (A × C)
 A × (B − C) = (A × B) − (A × C)

Cardinality of a Set

 The cardinality of any set is the total number of elements present in that set.
 The cardinality of set A is denoted by |A| 𝑜𝑟 𝑛(A).

Note:
 𝑛(A ∪ B) = 𝑛(A) + 𝑛(B) – 𝑛(A ∩ B)
 If A and B are disjoint set then, 𝑛(A ∪ B) = 𝑛(A) + 𝑛(B)
 For two sets, the number of elements only in set A = 𝑛(A ∩ B′) = 𝑛(A) – 𝑛(A ∩ B)
 For two sets, the number of elements only in set B = 𝑛(A′ ∩ B) = 𝑛(B) – 𝑛(A ∩ B)

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