Section 2

Previous
Notions.
Set theory

Bachelor degree in
Early childhood Education
(Initial teacher training, Year 1)
Lecturer: Noelia Jiménez
Faculty of Education, University of Cordoba 1
 Learning intentions
 To know the basic concepts related to set theory
⚫ set, finite sets, infinite sets, subset, equal sets,
empty set, universal set, …
 To give formulation of a set in statement form,
roster form or set-builder form; and making
translations
 To operate sets (union, intersection,
complement and difference)
 To represent sets’ relations and operations in
Venn diagrams
 To find out the cardinal of a given set

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 Definition and Notation
 Set is a well-defined collection of objects.
⚫ Individual object in a set is called as element or
member of the set.
 Notation:
⚫ Uppercase letters for sets and lowercase for
elements (if apply)
 Defining a set
⚫ Statement form → all the vowels
⚫ Roster form → V = { a,e,i,o,u}
⚫ Set-builder form → V = { x | x is a vowel}
l It reads as “V is the set of all x such that x is a vowel.”
The symbol “|” reads as “such that.”

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 Definition and Notation
 Symbols
⚫ {} it denotes a set, a collection of elements
(elements appears separated by commas)
l Example: V = {a,e,i,o,u}
⚫ Expressing “belongs to” relation (Membership)
l aV t V
⚫ Every element of a set must be unique and the
order is not important
l {1, 2, 3} = {3, 1, 2} = {1, 1, 3, 2} = {1, 2, 3, 2, 2}
⚫ Empty set: is a set with no elements
l  = {} = {a set without elements}
l ACTIVITY: Define an empty set in set-builder form

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 Representation: Venn diagram
U

t V
a o
b c i
d …. e u

In the example above, U is the universal set, “i.e., the set of all
elements being considered in a particular discussion” (Finan,
2006, p.36)
⚫ U could be defined as all the letters of the Latin alphabet

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 Cardinality
 The cardinality of a set is "the number of
members of the set".
⚫ Also called “size” or “cardinal number” of a set.
⚫ There is only one set with zero cardinality, the
empty set ϕ.
⚫ e.g. if B = {blue, white, red}, its cardinality is 3.
⚫ It can be denoted by: |B|, Card(B), n(B).
 To obtain the cardinality of a set we need to
make a one-to-one correspondence between
the set and a subpart of the counting numbers’
set

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 Types of sets
 Empty set, universal set, …
 Finite set: Set which contains a defined number
of elements.
⚫ e.g. B = {b | b is the number of bus seats }
 Infinite set: A set which contains a countless
number of elements.
⚫ e.g. A= {x | x is any of whole numbers}
 Equal sets: Two sets A and B are equal if they
have the same elements. We write A = B. If A
does not equal B we write A  B.

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 Equal sets
 Two sets A and B are equal if and only if they
have the same elements, i.e. if every element of
A, also is member of B, and every element of B
is also member of A.
⚫ e.g. Let be Set A= {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}, Set B={5, 2,
4, 3, 1}
⚫ In this case we can write A= B or A≡B
 So there is a necessary and sufficient condition
for A≡B, that is
⚫ A⊆B and B⊆A
⚫ Equivalence relation: (reflexive, symmetric
and transitive) 8
 Subsets
 Subset: Sets which are part of another set are
called subsets of the original set.
⚫ For example, if Set A= {3, 5, 6, 8} and B={3, 5},
then B is a subset of A.
⚫ It is symbolized as B ⊆ A
⚫ In this particular case (example above), B is a
proper subset of A, because all the elements of
B are also elements of A but, A and B are not
equal
l A proper subset relation is symbolized as B  A

l Order relation: (reflexive, antisymmetric and

b) Which sets are subsets of each

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 Subsets
*
A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5},B = {1, 3}, C = {2n − 1|n N }

1 4 2

3 5

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 Subsets
*
A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5},B = {1, 3}, C = {2n − 1|n N }
n 2n-1
1
2 1 4 2
3
3 5
4
5
6
…

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 Subsets
*
A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5},B = {1, 3}, C = {2n − 1|n N }
n 2n-1
1 1
2 3 1 4 2
3 5 7 9
3 5
4 7
11…
5 9
6 11
…

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 Subsets
*
A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5},B = {1, 3}, C = {2n − 1|n N }
n 2n-1
1 1
2 3 1 4 2
3 5 7 9
3 5
4 7
11…
5 9
6 11
…
Solution:
a) B ⊆ C, B ⊆ A
A ⊆ A, B ⊆ B and C ⊆ C
b) B  A and B  C
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 Subsets
*
A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5},B = {1, 3}, C = {2n − 1|n N }
n 2n-1
1 1
2 3 1 4 2
3 5 7 9
3 5
4 7
11…
5 9
6 11
… Solution:
A  C and C  A
A, C  B (A and B are supersets of B)
C is the set of all odd natural numbers
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 Universal set and
complement set
 e.g. Let be: U={all the students in this
classroom} and A={a | a is a student
wearing glasses}
the complement of the set A refers to all
⚫
members of U which are not members of A.
Notation: A’, Ac, A .

U A U
A'

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Universal set and
complement set

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 Union of sets ()
 Given the sets A and B, then
 the set of all elements which are in the set A or
in the set B is called the union of the two sets
⚫ it is denoted by AB
⚫ it reads as 'A union B‘
⚫ Properties:
U
l (AB) C= A(B C)
l AB = BA
l AA = A
l A = A
l AU = U

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 Intersection of sets ()
 Given the sets A and B, then
 the set of all common elements of A and B is
called the intersection of A and B
⚫ it is denoted by AB
⚫ it reads as 'A meets B‘, ‘A and B’
⚫ Properties:
U
l (AB) C= A (BC)
l AB=BA
l AA=A
l A =
l AU =A

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 Difference of two sets (−)
 Given the sets A and B, then
 The difference of sets A and B is a set of all elements of
A which are not members of B.
⚫ It is denoted by A-B, and can be expressed as follow
A-B={x| x∈A and x∉B}
 The difference of sets B and A is a set of all elements of
B which are not members of A.
⚫ B-A={x| x∈B and x∉A}
U
U

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 Vocabulary I
 Set: a group of things of the same kind; (mathematics)
an abstract collection of numbers or symbols
 Venn diagram: (Venn's diagram) a diagram that uses
circles to represent mathematical or logical sets
pictorially inside a rectangle (the universal set);
elements that are common to more than one set are
represented by intersections of the circles
 Universal set (U): (mathematics) the set that contains
all the elements or objects involved in the problem
under consideration) "all other sets are subsets of the
universal set“
 Subset: a set whose members are members of another
set; a set contained within another set
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 Vocabulary II
 Whole number: (mathematics) All the natural or
counting numbers and the zero. The whole number set
is {0,1,2,3,4,5,…}
 Countless: too numerous to be counted (infinite,
innumerable, innumerous, multitudinous, myriad,
numberless, uncounted, unnumberable, unnumbered,
unnumerable)
 Odd natural number → odd, uneven (not divisible by
two). A natural number not divisible by 2.

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 Learning intentions revisited
 Do you know the basic concepts related to set
theory? ( set, finite sets, infinite sets, subset, equal
sets, empty set, universal set, …)
 Can you define a set in statement form, roster
form or set-builder form? Can you make
translation among them?
 Are you able to operate sets? (union,
intersection, complement and difference)
 Can you represent in a Venn diagram several
sets’ relations and operations?
 Can you find the cardinality of a set?

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The end

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 References
Finan, M. B. (2006). A First Course in Mathematics
Concepts for Elementary School Teachers: Theory,
Problems, and Solutions. [Lecture notes]. Department
of Mathematics. Arkansas Tech University. Retrieved
from http://faculty.atu.edu/mfinan/

 Vocabulary (mainly) from:

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