S. M.

Shahidul Islam

02
Chapter
Set Theory

Highlights:
2.1 Introduction 2.7 Relation
2.2 Definition of Set 2.8 Venn diagram
2.3 Elements of a set 2.9 Number of elements in a finite set
2.4 Methods of describing a set 2.10 De-Morgan’s laws
2.5 Types of sets
2.6 Operations on sets
2.11 Some worked out example
2.12 Exercise

2.1 Introduction: Some simple concepts about groups or collections or sets are core ideas
in mathematics. We use braces to indicate a set, and specify the members or elements of
the set within the braces. The concepts of sets are used not only in mathematics but also in
statistics and many other subjects. Here we shall discuss the concepts of sets and a few
applications in business problems.

2.2 Definition of Set: A set is a collection of well-defined and well-distinguished objects.

It is almost a convention to indicate sets by capital letters, like A, B, C etc. and to enclose
its elements by second brackets, {}.
Example: 1) A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0}
2) B = {x: x is the student of BBA 15th batch of AUB}
3) C = {x: x be the possible outcomes in the toss of a die}
N.B. The basic characteristic of a set is that it should be well defined and its members or
elements should be well distinguished for easy recognition by description.

2.3 Elements of a set: The objects that make up a set are called the elements or members
of the set. If a be element of set A then we write aA and is read as ‘a belongs to A’. And
if c is not an element of set A then we write cA and is read as ‘c does not belong to A.’
Example: Let a set, A = {1, 2, 3, 4}. Here 1, 2, 3 & 4 are the elements of the set A, that is
1 A, 2 A, 3 A and 4A.

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2.4 Methods of describing a set: There are two methods of describing a set. First one is
Tabular/Roster/Enumeration method and second one is Selector/Property builder/Rule
method.
i) Tabular method: In this method we enumerate or list all the elements of the set within
second brackets.
Example: A = {a, b, c, d}, B = {0, 1, 2, 3}, etc.

ii) Selector method: In this method the elements are not listed but are indicated by
description of their characteristics.
Example: A = {x: x is a vowel in English alphabet}

2.5 Types of sets: There are various types of sets. We describe below a few of them:
1) Finite set: When the elements of a set can be counted by a finite number then the set is
called a finite set.
Example: A = {1, 2, 3, 4}
B = {1, 2, 3, . . ., 1000}
C = {x: 2  x  100 and x is even integer}

2) Infinite set: If the elements of a set cannot be counted in a finite number, the set is
called an infinite set.
Example: N = {1, 2, 3, . . .}
B = {x: x be even integer numbers}

3) Singleton: The set, which contains only one element is called a singleton or a unit set.
Example: A = {1}
B = {}
C = {x: x is an integer neither positive nor negative}
D = {x  6 < x < 8 and x is an integer number}

4) Null or Empty set: The set, which has no element, is called null or empty or void set.
Generally it is denoted by a Greek letter  (phi).
Example: = { }
A = {x: 6 < x < 7 and x is an integer number}

5) Equal set: Two sets A and B are said to be equal if every element of A is also an
element of B and every element of B is also an element of A.
Example: A ={1, 2, 3}
B = {1, 2, 3}
Here every element of A is also element of B and every element of B is also element of A.
So set A and set B is equal set.

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 S. M. Shahidul Islam

6) Equivalent set: If the element of a set can be put into one to one correspondence with
the elements of another set, then the two set are called equivalent set. The symbol ‘ ’ is
used to denote equivalent sets.
Example: A = {1, 2, 3, 4}
B = {a, b, c, d}
Here, set A  B because it is possible to make one to one correspondence among the
elements of both sets.
N.B: If two sets are infinite sets or contain same number of elements then they are
equivalent sets. Example: Let, A = {x: x  N and x be even integer}
and B = {x: x  N and x be odd integer}
Then A  B

7) Disjoint Sets: Two or more sets having no common element are called disjoint sets.
Example: Set A = {a, b, c, d} and B = {p, q, r, s, t} are disjoint sets because they have no
common element.

8) Subsets: If every element of a set B is also an element of a set A then, set B is called
subset of A and is written as, B  A or B  A or A  B or A  B
Example: Let A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}
And B ={2, 4, 6}
Then B  A because of every element of B is an element of A.
N.B: Every set has its 2n number subsets where n is the number of elements of that set.
Two of them are improper subsets and the remaining are proper subsets.

9) Proper Subset: Set B is called proper subset of super set A if each and every element
of set B are the elements of the set A and at least one element of super set A is not an
element of B.
Example: Let A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7}
B = {1, 3, 5, 7}
So, B  A

10) Improper Subset: A set itself is a subset of that set and Ø is a subset of every set;
these two subsets are called improper subset.
Example: Let us consider A ={a, b, c}
The subsets of A are {a}, {b}, {c}, {a, b}, {a, c}, {b, c}, {a, b, c}, Ø
Here, we have 2 n = 23 = 8 subsets of A. Subsets {a, b, c} and Ø are improper subset of A
and the remaining are proper subsets of A.

11) Family of sets: The set which all the elements are sets themselves then it is called a
family of sets or set of sets.
Example: A = {{1}, {2}, {1, 2}, Ø} is a family of sets.

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12) Power set: If a family of sets contains all subset of a set then this family of sets is
called power set of that set.
Example: Let A = {1, 2, 3}
The subsets of A are Ø, {1}, {2}, {3}, {1, 2}, {1, 3}, {2, 3}, {1, 2, 3}
Then power set of A is P(A) = {Ø, {1}, {2}, {3}, {1, 2}, {1, 3}, {2, 3}, {1, 2, 3}}

13) Universal set: Our discussing sets are subsets of a big set, this big set is known as
universal set of that sets. It is generally denoted by the symbol U.
Example: The set of integers may be considered as a universal set for the set of even
integers and the set of odd integers.

2.6 Operations on sets:

1) Intersection of sets: The Intersection of two sets A and B is the set consisting of all
elements, which belong to both sets A and B. The intersection of sets A and B is denoted
by A  B and is read as “ A intersection B,” or “ the intersection of A and B.”
Symbolically, A  B = {x: x  A and x  B}
Example: Let, A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5} and B = {2, 4, 6}
 A  B = {2, 4}

2) Union of sets: The union of two sets A and B is the set consisting of all elements,
which belong to either A or B or both. The union of sets A and B is denoted by AB and
is read as ‘A union B,’ or ‘the union of A and B.’ Symbolically, AB = {x: xA or xB}
Example: Let, A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5} and B = {2, 4, 6}
 A  B = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}

3) Difference of two sets: The Difference of two sets A and B is the set of all those
elements, which belong to A and not to B. The difference of sets A and B is denoted by
A – B or A ~ B and is read as “ A difference B,” or “ the difference of A and B.”
Symbolically, A – B = {x: x  A and x  B}
Example: Let, A = {1, 3, 5}, B = {4, 5, 6}
 A – B = {1, 3} and B – A = {4, 6}.

4) Symmetric difference of two sets: If A and B are two sets, then the set (A– B)(B–A)
is called the symmetric difference of two sets and is written as A ∆ B. That is, the
symmetric difference of two sets A and B is the set of all those elements of A and B,
which are not common to both A and B. We have to note that A ∆ B = B ∆ A.
Example: If A = {a, b, c, d} and B = {b, c, d, e, f} then
A – B = {a} and B – A = {e, f}
So, A ∆ B = (A – B)  (B – A) = {a, e, f}.

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5) Complement of a set: The complement of a set is the set of all elements, which do not
belong to that set. The compliment of the set A is A/ or Ac = U – A = {x: x  U and xA}.
Example: Let, U = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6} and A = {1, 3, 5}
Then, Ac or A/ = U – A = {2, 4, 6}

6) Cartesian product: If A and B be any two sets, then the set of all ordered pairs whose
first element belongs to set A and second element belongs to set B is called the Cartesian
product of A and B and is denoted by A  B.
i.e. A  B = {(x, y): x  A, y  B}
N.B: An ordered pair of objects consists of two elements a and b written in parentheses
(a, b). The ordered pair (a, b) and (b, a) are not same, i.e., (a, b) ≠ (b, a). Two ordered
pairs (a, b) and (c, d) will be equal if a = c and b = d.
Example: Let A = {1, 2}, B ={a, b}
 A  B = {(1, a), (1, b), (2, a), (2, b)}
And B  A = {(a, 1), (a, 2), (b, 1), (b, 2)}
So, A  B ≠ B  A

2.7 Relation: If A and B be two sets then non empty subset of ordered pairs of Cartesian
product, A  B is called relation of A and B and is denoted by R. If we consider x  A and
y  B then (x, y)  R.
Example (i): If A = {1, 2, 3} and B = {3, 5} then A  B = {(1, 3), (1, 5), (2, 3), (2, 5), (3,
3), (3, 5)}. So, the relation x < y where x  A and y  B is R = {(1, 3), (1, 5), (2, 3), (2, 5),
(3, 5)}.
Example (ii): If A = {$4, $7, $8} is a set of cost of per unit product and B = {$5, $8} is the
set of selling price of per unit product of a production firm. Find the profitable relation
between cost and selling price.
Solution: Here, A  B = {($4, $5), ($4, $8), ($7, $5), ($7, $8), ($8, $5), ($8, $8)}
A firm becomes profitable if its selling price of per unit product is greater than the cost of
per unit product. So, the profitable relation, R = {($4, $5), ($4, $8), ($7, $8)}. (Answer)

2.8 Venn diagram: The Venn diagrams are named after English Logician John Venn. In
this diagram, the universal set U is denoted by a region enclosed by a rectangle and one or
more sets are shown by circles or closed curves within this rectangle. These circles or
closed curves intersect each other if there are any common elements among them if there
are no common elements then they are shown separated. This diagram is useful to
illustrate the set relations, the set operations etc.
Example: Let A = {1, 2, 3}, B = {2, 3, 4} and U = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}. Various relation and
operations are shown bellow by the Venn diagrams:

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U
A B

2
1 3
4

5 6

Venn diagram

Figure – 2.1

From diagram, we get

A  B = {2, 3}
A  B = {1, 2, 3, 4}
A – B = {1}
B – A = {4}
U – (A  B) = {5, 6}
Ac = {4, 5, 6}
Bc = {1, 5, 6} etc.

2.9 Number of elements in a finite set: It is very important to find out the number of
elements in a finite set in the solution of the practical problems. Generally, if A be a set
then n(A) means the number of elements of the set A. Such as if A = {a, b, c, d, e, f, g}
then n(A) = 7; if B = {1, 3, 5, 7} then n(B) = 4 and if C = {x: x be even integer numbers
between 3 to 15} then n(C) = 6 etc.
Let A and B be two disjoint sets that means they have no common element then total
elements of the both sets will be n(A  B).
So, n(A  B) = n(A) + n(B) - - - (i).
But, if A and B are not disjoint sets that means they have some common elements then
total elements of both sets will be
n(A  B) = n(A) +n(B) – n(A  B) - - - (ii)
Similarly, if A, B and C be three disjoint sets then,
n(ABC) = n(A) + n(B) + n(C) - - - (iii)
But if A, B and C are not disjoint sets then,
n(ABC) = n(A) + n(B) + n(C)– n(AB)– n(AC) – n(BC)+ n(ABC) - - - (iv)
For disjoint cases, each of n(AB), n(AC), n(BC) and n(ABC) is 0. So, formula
(ii) and (iv) are main.

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