SET THEORY

TEACHER: JOSE ARTURO GONZALEZ

INTRODUCTION
Consider the following image and questions:
INTRODUCTION
We can formally define a set as a collection of objects or symbols. We can then say that Sets are
usually identified using letters and that this is very helpful when we are considering two or more
sets in a given situation.
Consider the following example, the even numbers less than 16 are 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 14. Using
set notation we could write the collection of objects as the set:

𝐴 = 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14

Another way to define a set is to use words. Consider the example, the set of all multiples of five
which are less than 35.The set could be written as:

𝑀 = 𝑚𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑖𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 5 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑎𝑟𝑒 < 35 or 𝑀 = 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30

Other examples of sets could include:

• 𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒, 𝑙𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑛, 𝑙𝑖𝑚𝑒, 𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑒, 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑝𝑒𝑓𝑟𝑢𝑖𝑡 is the set of citric fruits.
• 𝑎, 𝑒, 𝑖, 𝑜, 𝑢 is the set of all vowels in the English alphabet.

The objects or symbols in a set are called the elements or members of that specific set.
CLASS ACTIVITY
Take the following 15 to 20 minutes and think about your house, carefully select objects that you
can use to make two (2) different sets. They can be two totally different sets not related with each
other. Each one of the two sets must have at least 4 elements.

Once you have the two sets, organize your thoughts and using the sheet of paper given to you tell
us why the different elements make up the two different sets.
SET NOTATION
EXAMPLE:
SET NOTATION
EXERCISES:
SET NOTATION
EXERCISES:
MORE SET NOTATION
Roster Notation Method vs. Set Builder Notation Method:
In general we can define Notation as a system of characters, symbols, or abbreviated expressions
used in an the arts, sciences, mathematics or logic to express technical facts or quantities.
Mathematical Notation is a writing system used for recording concepts in mathematics. It uses
symbols or symbolic expressions that are intended to have precise meaning.
Roster Notation is a method by which we list the elements in a set in a row separated by commas
within curly brackets. Saying it another way, all the elements in a given set are enumerated in a
row inside curly brackets. If the set contains more than one element, then consecutive elements
are separated by using commas.

Some examples include:

𝐴 = 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14
𝐹 = ℎ𝑎𝑚𝑏𝑢𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑟, 𝑝𝑖𝑧𝑧𝑎, 𝑡𝑎𝑐𝑜𝑠, 𝑠𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑤𝑖𝑐ℎ
𝑊 = 𝑆𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑦, 𝑀𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑦, 𝑇𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑑𝑎𝑦, 𝑊𝑒𝑑𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑑𝑎𝑦, 𝑇ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑑𝑎𝑦, 𝐹𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑎𝑦, 𝑆𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑑𝑎𝑦
MORE SET NOTATION
Roster Notation Method vs. Set Builder Notation Method:
Set Builder Notation is a mathematical notation form for describing a given set by clearly stating the
properties that its members must satisfy. In other words, set builder notation describes or defines
the elements of a set instead of listing the elements. When using this type of notation the vertical
bar “I” is read as “such that”.

Some examples include:

𝑀 = 𝑚𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑖𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 5 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑎𝑟𝑒 < 35

𝑇 = 𝑚𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑖𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 11 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 50
𝐷 = 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑑𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 30

Watch Roster Method vs. Set Builder Form Video: https://youtu.be/05Z_dudVav0

 EQUAL SETS
Two sets are considered equal if they both contain exactly the same elements.
For example,
If A = {2, 3, 8} and B = {3, 8, 2}, then A = B.
EXERCISES:
 SUBSETS
If M = {2, 7, 8} and N = {1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 11} we can notice that each and every element of M is also an
element of N.We can than say that M is a subset of N.
So, set A is a subset of set B if and only if every element of A is also in B.
In this case if A is a subset of B, we write 𝐴 ⊆ 𝐵.

EMPTY SETS
Consider the case of a set that doesn't have any elements.
So, an empty set is a set which contains no elements.
We can use either one of the following two symbols { } or ∅ to represent an empty set. An example
of this situation could be the set of all whole numbers between 2 and 3 would be written as ∅.
Notice that the empty set is always a subset of any given set.
 SUBSETS & EMPTY SETS
EXAMPLE:

EXERCISES:
 SUBSETS & EMPTY SETS
EXERCISES:
 EQUIVALENT SETS
Two sets A and B are said to be equivalent sets if they contain the same number of elements. The symbol
to denote equivalent set is ↔. A ↔ means set A and set B contain the same number of elements.
Equal sets are always equivalent.

Equivalent sets may not be equal.

MORE ABOUT SUBSETS

If A and B are two sets, and every element of set A is also an element of set B, then A is called a subset of
B and we write it as A ⊆ B. The symbol ⊂ stands for ‘is a subset of’ or ‘is contained in’.
• Every set is a subset of itself, i.e., A ⊂ A, B ⊂ B.
• Empty set is a subset of every set.
• Symbol ‘⊆’ is used to denote ‘is a subset of’ or ‘is contained in’.
• A ⊆ B means A is a subset of B or A is contained in B.
 MORE ABOUT SUBSETS
Super Set:
Whenever a set A is a subset of set B, we say the B is a superset of A and we write, B ⊇ A. Symbol ⊇ is
used to denote ‘is a super set of’.

Proper Subset:
If A and B are two sets, then A is called the proper subset of B if A ⊆ B, A ≠ B. The symbol ‘⊂’ is used to
denote proper subset. Symbolically, we write A ⊂ B.
Consider the following example:
A = {1, 2, 3, 4}, here n(A) = 4
B = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}, here n(B) = 5
We observe that, all the elements of A are present in B but the element ‘5’ of B is not present in A.
So, we say that A is a proper subset of B. Symbolically, we write it as A ⊂ B.
 MORE ABOUT SUBSETS
Power Set:
The collection of all subsets of set A is called the power set of A. It is denoted by P(A). In P(A), every
element is a set.
Consider the following example:
If A = {p, q} then all the subsets of A will be
P(A) = {∅, {p}, {q}, {p, q}}

Universal Set:
A set which contains all the elements of other given sets is called a universal set. The symbol for
denoting a universal set is ∪.
Consider the following example:
If A = {1, 2, 3} B = {2, 3, 4} C = {3, 5, 7}
then U = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7}
 THE INTERSECTION OF SETS
Consider the following situation. In a class of students, F = {Juan, Miguel, Sofia, Natalia, Eva} is the
set of students that play the French Horn and, T = {Sofia, Eva, Nicolás, Samuel} is the set of
students that play the trumpet.
If we carefully consider both sets we can see that Sofia and Eva play both instruments, this is
because they both belong to set F and set T. The set {Sofia, Eva} is called the intersection of sets F
and T.
The intersection of two sets A and B is the set of all elements which are common to both
sets A and B.
The intersection of sets A and B is written as 𝐴 ∩ 𝐵.
EXAMPLE:
 THE UNION OF SETS
The union of two sets is composed of the combination of the elements of the two sets, and then
removing any elements which have been included twice.
Consider the following situation, suppose A = {3, 5, 6, 7, 9} and B = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}.
To find the union of A and B, we would first list the elements of both A and B, then cross out the
elements listed twice:
{3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5}
We can then list the numbers in order, resulting in: {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9}

One advantage of this method is that the numbers we cross out are precisely the elements of the
intersection of A and B. So, 𝐴 ∩ 𝐵 = 3, 5 .

The union of sets A and B is the set of all elements which are in A or B. Elements in both A
and B are included in the union of A and B.
The union of sets A and B is written as 𝐴 ∪ 𝐵.
 THE INTERSECTION OF SETS
EXERCISES:
 THE UNION OF SETS
EXAMPLE:

EXERCISES:
 THE UNION OF SETS
EXERCISES:
 VENN DIAGRAMS
When we are dealing with problems involving sets, the universal set is the set that contains all of
the elements we are taking under consideration.
Consider the following example. Set A = {2, 5, 7}, which is a subset of all the single digit numbers 0,
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.
In this particular example the universal set is U = {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9}
A Venn Diagram shows the relationship between sets. The universal set is always represented by
a rectangle and the other sets involved in the situation are represented by circles within the
rectangle.
The Venn diagram for the previous example would then be:
 VENN DIAGRAMS
EXAMPLE:
 VENN DIAGRAMS
EXAMPLE:
 VENN DIAGRAMS
From the previous example, the intersection of the two sets of interest can clearly be seen as
the overlapping of the two circles.

The union of the two sets of interest can be seen in

the Venn Diagram to the right. An element in the
union could be in one set or the other or in both
sets. This element must lie within at least one of the
circles.
 VENN DIAGRAMS
EXERCISES:
 EXAMPLE:
EXERCISES:
VENN DIAGRAMS
 VENN DIAGRAMS
EXERCISES:
 VENN DIAGRAMS
EXAMPLE:
 VENN DIAGRAMS
EXAMPLE:
 VENN DIAGRAMS
EXERCISES:
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Bibliography:
Vollmar P., et.al., “Mathematics for the international
Student MYP 1 6”, Haese & Harris Publications
EVERYTHING ABOUT MATH