1

Sets, relation & function Set: A set is a collection of well defined objects i.e. the objects follow a given rule or rules. If we say that we have a collection of short students in a class, then this collection is not a set as short students is not well defined. If, however, we say that we have a collection of students whose height is less then 5 feet, then it represents a set. Elements of a set: The members of a set are called its elements. A set is usually denoted by capital letters A, B, C etc, where as the elements of a set are generally denoted by lower case letters a, b, c, d etc. If an element x is in set A, we say that x belongs to A and write x A. If the element x is not in A then we write x A. Examples of sets: 1. The set of vowels in the alphabet of English language. 2. The set of all points on a particular line. 3. The set of all lines in a particular plane. 4. The set of all odd natural numbers. 5. The set of all real numbers. The elements in a set can be written in any order e.g. A = {1, 3, 5, 7, 9, }, B = {11, 9, 5, 7}, C = {, 2, 1, 0, 1, 2, }, D = {Amar, Aman, Ajay}. This is called the roster method of representing a set. A set can also be represented by stating the properties within braces, which are satisfied by the elements of the set e.g. A = {x : x = 2n + 1, n 1, n N}, A = {x : 6 x 12, x N}. This method of representing a set is called the set builder method. Some special sets: (i) Finite and infinite sets: A set A is finite if it contains only a finite number of elements; we can find the exact number of elements in the set. Otherwise, the set is said to be an infinite set (ii) Null set: A set which does not contain any element is called a null set and is denoted by also called an empty set. (iii) Singleton set; A set which contains only one element is called a singleton set. (iv) Equal sets: Two set are said to be equal, if every element of one set is in the other set and vice-versa e.g. A p, q, r, s , B r, q, p, s are equal sets, since the order of the elements is immaterial. (v) Equivalent sets: . A null set is

2
Two sets A and B are equivalent if the elements of A can be paired with the elements of B, so that to each element of A there corresponds exactly one element of B e.g. A p, q, r ,

5, 6, 8 are equivalent sets.

Note: Equal sets are equivalent, but equivalent sets may not be equal. (vi) Subsets: If each element of a set A is also an element of a set B, then A is called a subset of B, and we write A B , Note: that N Z, N Q, R (vii) Proper subsets:

C.

A set A is called a proper subset of B if and only if each element of A is an element of B and there is at least one element of B which is not in A i.e. A B and A B and we write A B Note: The null set (viii) Power set: The power set of a set A is the set of all of its subsets, and is denoted by P A Note : The null set and set A are always elements of P A . is a subset of every set and every set is a subset of itself.

n Theorem: If a finite set has n elements, then the power set of A has 2 elements. Operations on sets:

The operations on sets, by which sets can be combined to produce new sets, can be best illustrated through Venn diagram as shown in side wise figure:
A

A B B

(i) Union of sets: The union of two set A and B is defined as the set of all elements which are either in A or in B or in both. The union of two sets is written as A B as shown in side wise figure:

A A

This definition can be extended to the union of more than two set A1, A 2 ,........A n . We define, is this case, the union as
n i 1

Ai

A1

A2

A 3 ........

An

x:x

A i for at least one i,1 i n .

Note : A

A A (i.e. union of sets is idempotent), A S S and A B B A and A B C A B C.

A. Also

3
(ii) Intersection of sets: The intersection of two sets A and B is defined as the set of those elements which are in both A and B and is written as A B x : x A and x B
A A B B

Note : A A A, A S A and A . The commutative, associative and distributive laws hold for intersection of two sets i.e.

A B B A A B C A
A A
n i 1

B
B B

C
A A C C

B B

C C

A A

The intersection of n sets A1, A 2........A n is written as

Ai

A1

A2

A 3 .........

An

x:x

A i for all i, 1 i n .

Disjoint sets: Two set A and B are said to be disjoint, if there is no element which is in both A and B, i.e. A B e.g. A a, b, c , B d, e, f are disjoint. iii) Difference of sets: The difference of two set A and B, taken in this order, is defined as the set of all those elements of A which are not in B and is denoted by A B i.e. A B = x : x A and x B . Similarly set B A is the set of all those element of B which are not in A i.e. B A x : x B, x A iv) Complement of a set: Complement of a set A is defined as S A where S is
c the universal set and is denoted by A or A i.e.
S A
c

A-B B A

S A or A
c

x : x S, x
A, Sc , A

A .
Ac
,A Ac = S.

Note: 1. Ac 2. A

A B

A C ;A

A B

A C .

4
A A A A (B C) A A-C A-C

(B B C

C) B

A-B B B C C C C

(A B)

(A C)

B C

Venn diagram for A (v) Application:

A B

A C .

Let A be a finite set. The number of elements in A is denoted by n A . Let A and B be two finite sets. If A and B are two disjoint sets, then n A If A and B are not disjoint, then (i) n A B n A n B (ii) n A (iii) n A (iv) n B

n A

nB .

n A B B

n A B

nB A

n A

n A B nB A

n A n A

A-B

B B-A

S
A

(vi) Cartesian product of sets: Let a be an arbitrary element of a given set A i.e. a A and b be an arbitrary element of B i.e. b B . Then the pair a, b is an ordered pair. Obviously a, b b, a . The cartesian product of two sets A and B is defined as the set of ordered pairs a, b . The cartesian product is denoted by A B

A B

a, b ; a

A, b B .
.

B A and if A or B is a null set then A B Moreover, n A B n A n B .

In general A B

5
Note : (i) A (ii) A (iii) A

A B

A C

C
C

A B
A B A C

A C
A C B C

B C

(iv) A B (v) A (vi) A

B
B

C
C

A C
A C

B C
B C
Relations

Let A and B be two sets. A relation R from the set A to set B is a subset of the cartesian product A B . Further, if x, y R , then we say that x is R-related to y and write this relation as x R y. Hence R x, y ;x

A, y B, x R y .

Domain and Range of a relation: Let R be a relation defined from a A set to a set B, i.e. R A B . Then the set of all first elements of the ordered pairs in R is called the domain of R. The set of all second elements of the ordered pairs in R is called the range of R. That is, D = domain of R x : x, y R or x : x A and x, y R ,

R = range of R

y : x, y
B.

R or y : y Band x, y

R .

Clearly D A and R * Inverse relation:

1

Let R be a relation from a set A to a set B. Then, the inverse relation of R, denoted by R relation defined by R (i) Identity relation: A relation R in the set A defined by R called the identity relation. (ii) Void relation: A relation R in the set A is void relation if R (iii) Universal relation: A relation R in the set A defined as R (iv) Reflexive relation: A relation R, in a set A, is called a reflexive relation if all x A . (v) Symmetric relation: .

, is a

y, x : x, y

R ,

x, y : x

A, y

A, x

y or R

x, x ; x A is

A A is called the universal relation in the set.

x, x

R for all x

A or xR x for

6
A relation R, in a set A, is called a symmetric relation if or xR y

x, y

y, x

yR x . A relation R in a set A is symmetric if R R 1 .

(vi) Transitive relation: A relation R, in a set A, is called a transitive relation if x, y and y, z

x, z

R or

xR y and yR z

xR z .

(vii) Equivalence relation: A relation R, in a set A is an equivalence relation if R is reflexive, symmetric and transitive i.e. yR x , and xR y, yR z xR z . xR x for all x A , xR y Functions Let A and B be two non-empty sets. Let to each element of A, there corresponds exactly one element of B. This correspondence between the elements of A and B is called a function from A to B. Function is a special case of a relation. A function from A to B is usually denoted by the symbols f, g etc. and we write f : A B . We also say that f is a mapping from A to B. The set A is called the domain of the f function f and B is called the co domain of a the function f. b
A B

(i) Graph of a function: Let f : A

B be a function. Then the subset a, f a : a A of A B is called the graph of the

A

f 2 3 4 3 9 7

5 6 8 B

function f. We know that a relation R from the set A to B is a subset of A B . The relation R is a function from the set A to the set B, if every element of A is the first element of exactly one ordered pair of R. The function f from the set A to the set B is usually written explicitly. (ii) Equal functions: Let f and g be two functions defined from A to B. Then f ,g : A if f x

B are equal

g x , x A.

If the function f and g are equal, then the subsets, graph of f and graph of g, of A B are equal. (iii) One-to-one functions: Let f : A B be a function from the set A to the set B. Then f is said to be one-to-one function if the images of distinct elements of A are distinct elements of B i.e. if x1, x2, A, x1 x2 f x1 f x2 .
f

A one-to-one function is also called an injective function. A function which is not one one is called a many one function.

7
(iv) Onto functions: Let f : A B be a function from the set A to set B. Then, f is said to be an onto function (onto mapping) if every element of B is image of at least one element of A i.e. for x 2 B , these exist at least one x1
f

A such that f x1

x2 . In other word,
A
f

the range of f = B. (v) One-to-one and onto functions: Let f : A B be a function from the set A to the set B. f is said to be one-to-one and onto if it is both one-to-one and onto. A one-to-one and onto function is also called a bijective function. (vi) Constant function: Let f : A B be a function from A B . f is said to be a constant function if there exists an element b B such that f x b , for all x A .

(vii) Inverse image and inverse function: Let f : A B be a function from the set A to the set B. Let b B . The inverse image of the element b B is the set of all elements of A whose image under the mapping f is b i.e. f 1 b

a:f a

b,

a
1

A . If f : A

B is one-to-one and onto, then the inverse image

1

is called the inverse function of f. Since f is onto, for b every b

B, f

b is non-empty. In fact f

b is a singleton set. Hence, for a. b

is defined only when f is

B , there exists a unique element a A such that f 1 b

1

This correspondence between the elements of B and A is called the inverse function of f and is denoted by f . Hence f 1 b

a if and only if f a

b i.e. f

1 a bijective function. The function f is also a bijective function.

(viii) Identity function: Let A be a non-empty set. If the mapping f : A A is such that each element of the set A is mapped onto itself, then f is said to be an identity function. The identity function is a bijective function. (ix) Composite Functions: Let f : A image y

B and g : B C be two functions. Let x A . Then, there exists exactly one f x B . Also B is the domain of g. Since g : B C is a function, this element

y B is mapped to z C under the mapping g i.e. z

g y

g f x . This correspondence

8
between the elements of A and C is called the composite function of f and g and is denoted by gof i.e. the composite mapping is defined by gof : A

C such that gof x

g f x

for

all x A . Note : The range of f is the domain of g. A is the domain of gof and C is its range. In general, composite function of two functions is not commutative i.e. fog gof . In particular if f is a bijection of A onto itself then, f 1 of = f of 1 = I, where I is the identity function. Binary Operations: Let A be a non-empty set. Then a function f : A A is called a unitary operation on A. A function f : A A A is called a binary operation on A. The binary operation is usually denoted by o or *. The image of (a, b) (A A) under the binary operation* is denoted by a* b. Similarly, a function f : A A A ... A(n times) A is called an n-ary operation on A. Note : Since the addition of two odd integers is even, addition on A (set of all odd integers) is not a binary operation. Laws of binary compositions: Let A be a non-empty set and be a binary operation defined on A. Commutative composition. The binary operation is said to be commutative if a b = b a for a, b A. Associative composition. The binary operation is said to be associative if (a b) c = a (b c) for a, b, c A. Identity element. An element e A is said to be an identity element for the binary operation if a e = a = e a for a A. For binary operation of addition in R, 0 (zero) is the identity element. For multiplication, the identity element is 1. For a binary operation, if the identity element exists, then it is unique.