Centre for Computer Technology

ICT114 Mathematics for Computing

Week 1

Introduction to Set Theory

Objectives
Set, Set Notation Subsets Basic Set Operations Venn Diagrams Some important sets

March 20, 2012

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A simple problem

In a survey of 100 college students, the following was reported regarding the number of students taking different course: Physics 50, Computers 40. Mathematics 30, Physics and Computers 22, Physics and Mathematics 18, Mathematics and Computers 15, Physics, Mathematics and Computers 10. (1). How many students did not take any of Physics, Mathematics, Computers?

(2). How many students opted for Computers but not Mathematics ?
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Set : Introduction
A set is a well-defined list, collection or class of objects.

The objects could be anything : numbers, names, people, cities. These objects are called the elements or members of the set.
Example 1: The numbers 1,3,5,7,9,11,13, Example 2: The solutions of the equation x2 4x+3=0 Example 3: The list of IP addresses in a subnet

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Notation
Sets are usually denoted by capital letters A, B, P, X, .. The elements are usually represented by lowercase letters a, b, p, x, .. There are two forms for presentation of a set : Tabular form , A = {1,3,5,7,9,11,} Set builder form, A = {x | x is odd}
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If an object x is a member of set A, we write xA, which is usually read as x belongs to A; or x is in A If an object x is not a member of set A, we write x A. Example : Let B={ y | y is a perfect square} 4 B, 9 B, But, 12 B, 23 B
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Some more concepts

Set A and set B are said to be equal if both have the same members, irrespective of the order. We write A = B Example 1 : X={1,2,3,4} is equal to Y={4,2,3,1}, so X = Y Example 2 : R = {1,2,3,4,5} is equal to S = {x | x is a positive integer less than 6} A set which does not contain any element is called the null set and is denoted by . It is also called void or empty
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Subsets
If every element in a set A is also a member of a set B, then A is called a subset of B In other words, if x A x B for all x, then A is a subset of B It is written as AB or BA A is called a proper subset of B, if A B and A is not equal to B.
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In any application of set theory, all the sets are likely to be subsets of a fixed set. This set is called the universal set and is usually denoted by U
Example 1: In studies of rivers, the universal set consist of all rivers in the world

If two sets have no common element, they are said to be disjoint

Example 2 : X={1,3,5,7} and Y={2,4,6,8} are disjoint as there is not common element Example 3 : R={1,2,3,4} and S={3,4,5,6} are not disjoint as there are two common elements
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Venn Diagram to represent sets

U is the universal set. A and B are disjoint sets R is a subset of S

U
A B

U
S R

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Basic set operations

The union of sets A and B is the set of all elements which belong to either A or B or both. It is represented as A U B The intersection of sets A and B is the set of elements which are common to both A and B. It is represented as A B Let A={1,2,3,4}, and B={3,4,5,6} then, A U B = {1,2,3,4,5,6}, and A B = {3,4}
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March 20, 2012

Venn Diagram
The rectangle represents Universal Set. The shaded area is the union of two sets A and B i.e. A U B

A AUB
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Venn Diagram
The rectangle represents Universal Set. Two sets A and B. The shaded area is their Intersection

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Some more set operations

The difference of sets A and B is the set of elements which belong to A but not to B. It is denoted by A B and read as A minus B The complement of a set A is the set of elements which do not belong to A. This is the difference of the universal set U and A It is denoted as A/ or Ac

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Some examples
Let R={a,b,c,d,e} and S={a,c,e,g,i} R - S ={b,d}, S - R={g,i} Let X={0,1,2,3,4,.} and Y={0,2,4,6,} X Y = {1,3,5,.}, Y - X = Let U ={all english alphabets}, V = {a,e,i,o,u}, V/ = {all consonants} Note that V/ = U - V

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A few more definitions

The symmetric difference of two sets A and B consists of the elements which are either in A or in B but not in both. It is denoted as A B The cardinality of a set is the number of elements it contains. It is represented as #A
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March 20, 2012

Some more examples

Suppose A={1,2,3,4,5} and B={4,5,6,7,8,9,10}

Then, A B = {1,2,3,6,7,8,9,10} #A = 5, #B = 7, # A B = 8.

Note that # = 0, as it does not contain any element.

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Definitions again
Let A and B represent two sets. We have the definitions in a compact manner 1. A U B ={ x | x A or x B or x both} 2. A B ={ x | x A and x B } 3. A B ={ x | x A and x B } 4. A/ ={ x | x A } 5. A B={ x | x A or x B but x both} 6. #A = Number of elements in set A
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Some important sets

The set of natural numbers: N = {0,1,2,} The set of integers: Z = {,2,1,0,1,2,} The set of positive integers: Z+ = {1,2,3,}

The set of rational numbers Q , Q = {a/b | a,b Z, b0}

The set of real numbers: R
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Summary
A set is a well-defined list, collection or class of objects. There are two forms for presentation of a set : Tabular form and Set builder form. If every element in a set A is also a member of a set B, then A is called a subset of B. Venn diagrams are used to represent sets.

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References

S Lipschutz : Theory and Problems of Set Theory and Related Topics, Schaum's Outline Series, McGraw Hill. http://mathworld.wolfram.com

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