Set Theory

A set is a collection of items which can be anything. A set is denoted with braces or "curly brackets,
We have two usual methods of denoting the elements in a set:
1) Explicitly list the elements inside of a set of curly braces({}), as follows: {1, 2, 3, 4}
2) Give a description of the elements in a set inside of a set of curly braces as follows:
{ 2x | xN }.

{2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12,...} is the set of all positive even integers

or
A = { 1, 3, 5, 7, ,,,,} means that A is the set of all positive odd integers
or C = {x | x = 3 * n. where n = 1, 2, 3,...} means that C is the set of all positive multiples of 3.
In order to understand the second method, we must define the various symbols that are used in this
notation. Here is a list of the symbols we will be using:
| - translates to such that
- is an element of
- is a proper subset of
- is a subset of

Subsets
A subset, A B, means that every element of A is also an element of B:
If x A, then x B.
In particular, every set is a subset of itself: A A.
A subset is called a proper subset, A is a proper subset of B, if A B and there is at least one
element of B that is not in A:
If x A, then x B and there is an element b such that b B and b A.
NOTE1: The empty set.
or {} has no elements and is a subset of every set, including itself:
for every set A,
A.
NOTE2: One way to find all the subsets of a set
all subsets with no elements:
all subsets with 1 elements: {1}, {2}, {3}
all subsets with 2 elements: {1, 2}, { 2, 3}, { 1, 3}
all subsets with 3 elements: {1, 2, 3}

= { 1, 2, 3} is to make a list:

Therefore, the list of subsets of the set

= { 1, 2, 3} is
{1}, {2}, {3}, {1, 2}, { 2, 3}, { 1, 3}, {1, 2, 3}.
NOTE3: A set with n elements has number of subsets!
The empty set is a set with no elements in it. In our standard notation, we could denote it as {}. It is
also very common to use , to denote the empty set.
Its important to denote that the following are not equal:
, {0}, and 0.

Set Operations
There are 4 basic set operations: union, intersection, complement, and difference. Perhaps the
best way to understand them is to use what are called Venn diagrams.
1) Union. A B is the set that contains all the elements in either A or B or
both:
A B = {x | x A or x B}.
For example, if A = { 1, 2, 3} and B ={ 3, 4, 5}, then A B = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5}
(Venn Diagram)
2) Intersection. A B is the set that contains all the elements that are in
both A andB:
A B = {x | x A and x B}.
For example, if A = { 1, 2, 3} and B ={ 3, 4, 5}, then A B = { 3 }
3) Complement. A' is the set that contains everything in the universal
set that is not in A:
A' = {x | x U and x A}.
For example, if
10, 12}

= { 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12} and A = { 2, 4}, then A' ={ 6, 8,

4) Difference. A - B is the set that contains all the elements that are
in A but not inB:
A - B = {x | x A and not x B}.
For example, if A = { 1, 2, 3} and B ={ 3, 4, 5}, then A - B = { 1, 2 }

Set Laws
1. (A) = A

Law of Double Complement

2. (A B) = A B
(A B) = A B

De Morgans Laws

3. A B = B A
A B = B A

Commutative Laws

4. A (B C) = (A B) C
A (B C) = (A B) C

Associative Laws

5. A (B C) = (A B) (A C)
A (B C) = (A B) (A C)
6. A A = A, A A = A

Distributive Laws
Idempotent Laws

7. A = A, A U = A
8. A A = U, A A =

Identity Laws
Inverse Laws

9. A U = U, A =
10. A (A B) = A
A (A B) = A

Domination Laws
Absorption Laws

Now, using these laws we can prove that A = (A B) (A B), for all sets A and B.
(A B) (A B) =

(A B) (A B), defn of
= A (B B), distributive law
= A U, Inverse law
= A, Identity law

For two sets A and B,

n(AB) is the number of elements present in either of the sets A or B.

n(AB) is the number of elements present in both the sets A and B.

n(AB) = n(A) + (n(B) n(AB)

For three sets A, B and C,

n(ABC) = n(A) + n(B) + n(C) n(AB) n(BC) n(CA) + n(ABC)

Consider the following Problems
Question: In a class of 100 students, 35 like science and 45 like math. 10 like both. How many like
either of them and how many like neither?
Solution:
Total number of students, n() = 100
Number of science students, n(S) = 35
Number of math students, n(M) = 45
Number of students who like both, n(MS) = 10
Number of students who like either of them,
n(MS) = n(M) + n(S) n(MS)
45+35-10 = 70
Number of students who like neither = n() n(MS) = 100 70 = 30

2) From a survey of 100 college students, a marketing research company found that 75 students
owned stereos, 45 owned cars, and 35 owned cars and stereos.
a) How many students owned either a car or a stereo?
b) How many students did not own either a car or a stereo?
3) Suppose n(U) = 150, n(A) = 37, and n(B) = 84.
a) If n( A U B) = 100, find n(a B) and draw a Venn diagram illustrating the composition of U.

b) How many elements belong to A only?

4) If A = {1, 3, 5}, B = {3, 5, 6} and C = {1, 3, 7}
(i) Verify that A (B C) = (A B) (A C)
(ii) Verify A (B C) = (A B) (A C)

5)

In a group of 100 persons, 72 people can speak English and 43 can speak French. How many can speak
English only? How many can speak French only and how many can speak both English and French?
6) In a competition, a school awarded medals in different categories. 36 medals in dance, 12 medals in
dramatics and 18 medals in music. If these medals went to a total of 45 persons and only 4 persons got medals
in all the three categories, how many received medals in exactly two of these categories?