Set Notation

Sets are notated using french braces () with delimited by commas. There are three ways to represent a set.

 Strict enumeration - each element in a set is explicitly stated (e.g., ).

 Pattern enumeration - sets with elements following a clear pattern can be shortened from strict enumeration by only
showing enough elements to describe the pattern and representing the rest with an ellipsis (e.g., ).
 Set former (or set builder)- elements in a set are defined as a function of one or more variables in a given domain that
meets a condition. The presence of a condition is optional. Some syntaxes and variations for a set former are as follows:
 For example, defines the set of
integers 1 through 10.
 , given a function and predicate , the set of all values for which is true.
 , given a set and predicate , a subset of all in for which is true.

Set properties and operations

Several properties and operations have been defined for sets. For the purpose of this section, sets are assumed to be collections
of numbers. Set is defined as the set .
Properties HI

 An object is an element of a set when it is contained in the set. For example, 1 is an element of . This is written as .
Similarly, the fact that 11 is not an element of is written as . The universe (usually represented as ) is a set
containing all possible elements, while theempty set or null set (represented as or ) is a set containing no elements.
 The cardinality of a set is the number of elements in the set. The cardinality of (written as or ) is 10.
 The complement of a set is the set containing all elements of the universe which are not elements of the original set. For
example, if the universe is defined as , then the complement of with respect to (written
as ) is . The cardinalities of a set and its complement together equal the cardinality of the universe. Thus,
the universe and the null set are complements of each other.
 A set is a subset of another when all the elements in the first set are contained in the second set. Given sets and , is a
subset of , notated as , if and only if for all , implies . All sets are subsets of the universe. By definition,
all sets are subsets of themselves and by convention, the null set is a subset of all sets. For example, . Any given
set has subsets.
 Two sets are equal if they are subsets of each other.
 A set's proper subsets are all subsets except the set itself. This relationship is notated by

1
Operations

 The union of two sets is the set containing all elements of either or , including elements of both and . This
operation is written as . For example, .
 The intersection of two sets is the set containing all elements of both and . This is written as . For
example, . The sum of the cardinalities of the intersection and union of two sets is equal to the
sum of the cardinalities of the two sets.

Other functions on sets

Some functions on sets return a set which may not necessarily be a subset of the universal set. Given sets and :

 The Power set of , denoted , is the set containing all subsets of .

 The Cartesian product of and , denoted , is the set of ordered pairs where and . That
is,

There are various types of sets. A finite set has a limited number of members, such as the letters of the alphabet; an infinite
set has an unlimited number of members, such as all whole numbers; an empty or null set has no members, such as the number
of people who have swum across the Atlantic Ocean, written as {} or ø; a single-element set has only one member, such as days
of the week beginning with M, written as {Monday}. Equal sets have the same members; for example, if W = {days of the
week} and S = {Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday}, it can be said that W = S. Sets with the
same number of members are equivalent sets. Sets with some members in common areintersecting sets; for example, if R =
{red playing cards} and F = {face cards}, then R and Fshare the members that are red face cards. Sets with no members in
common are disjoint sets. Sets contained within others are subsets; for example, V = {vowels} is a subset of L = {letters of the
alphabet}.

Definitions
subset
The set A is a subset of set B iff every member of A is also a member of B.
proper subset
The set A is a proper subset of set B iff A is a subset of B, but B is not a subset of A.
superset
The set A is a superset of set B iff every member of B is also a member of A.
proper superset
The set A is a proper superset of set B iff A is a superset of B, but B is not a superset of A.
set equality
Two sets A and B are equal iff A is a subset of B, and B is a subset of A.

Finite Sets & Infinite Sets

Finite sets are sets that have a finite number of members. If the elements of a finite set are listed
one after another, the process will eventually “run out” of elements to list.

2
Example:
A = {0, 2, 4, 6, 8, …, 100}
C = {x : x is an integer, 1 < x < 10}

An infinite set is a set which is not finite. It is not possible to explicitly list out all the elements of
an infinite set.

Example:
T = {x : x is a triangle}
N is the set of natural numbers
A is the set of fractions

The number of elements in a finite set A is denoted by n(A).

Example:
If A is the set of positive integers less than 12 then
A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11} and n(A) = 11

If C is the set of numbers which are also multiples of 3 then

C = {3, 6, 9, …} and C is an infinite set

If D is the set of integers x defined by –3 < x < 6 then

D = {–2, –1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5} and n(D) = 8

If Q is the set of letters in the word ‘HELLO’ then

Q = {H, E, L, O } , n(Q) = 4 ← ‘L’ is not repeated.

Representation of sets
Roster Form:
This method is also known as tabular method. In this method, a set is represented by listing all the
elements of the set, the elements being separated by commas and are enclosed within flower brackets {
}.

Example:
A is a set of natural numbers which are less than 6.
Solution:
A = {1,2,3,4,5} is the Roster form.

Set builder form:

This method is also known as Property method. In this method, a set is represented by stating all the
properties which are satisfied by the elements of the set and not by any other element. If A contains all
values of 'x' for which the condition P(x) is true, then we write A = {x: P(x)}.
While writing in the Roster form we write an element only once even though it is repeated any number
of times.
Example:
A = {2,4,6,8,10} write this set in set builder form.
Solution:
3
A = {x/x is even and x<12}.
or
A = {2x/x is a natural number and x≤ 5}.

Note: There may be more than one way to represent a set in set builder form.