Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.

Summary
 Fundamentals of Sets
 Set Operations
 Computer Representation of Sets
 Partitions of Sets
Section Summary
 Definition of sets
 Describing Sets
 Roster Method
 Set-Builder Notation
 Some Important Sets in Mathematics
 Empty Set and Universal Set
 Subsets and Set Equality
 Tuples
 Cartesian Product
 Russell’s Paradox
Introduction
 Sets are one of the basic building blocks for the types
of objects considered in discrete mathematics.
 Important for counting.

 Programming languages have set operations.

 Set theory is an important branch of mathematics.

 Many different systems of axioms have been used to
develop set theory.
Sets
 A set is an unordered collection of objects.
 the students in this class
 the chairs in this room

 The objects in a set are called the elements, or members of

the set. A set is said to contain its elements.

 The notation a ∈ A denotes that a is an element of the set

A.

 If a is not a member of A, write a ∉ A.

Describing a Set: Roster Method
 S = {a,b,c,d}
 Order not important
S = {a,b,c,d} = {b,c,a,d}
 Each distinct object is either a member or not; listing
more than once does not change the set.
S = {a,b,c,d} = {a,b,c,b,c,d}

 Elipses (…) may be used to describe a set without

listing all of the members when the pattern is clear.
S = {a,b,c,d, …,z }
Roster Method
 Set of all vowels in the English alphabet:
V = {a,e,i,o,u}
 Set of all odd positive integers less than 10:
O = {1,3,5,7,9}
 Set of all positive integers less than 100:
S = {1,2,3,…,99}

 Set of all integers less than 0:

S = {…, -3,-2,-1}
Some Important Sets
N = natural numbers = {0,1,2,3….}
Z = integers = {…,-3,-2,-1,0,1,2,3,…}
Z⁺ = positive integers = {1,2,3,…..}
R = set of real numbers
R + = set of positive real numbers
C = set of complex numbers
Q = set of rational numbers
Set-Builder Notation
 Specify the property or properties that all members must
satisfy:
S = {x | x is a positive integer less than 100}
O = {x | x is an odd positive integer less than 10}
O = {x ∈ Z⁺ | x is odd and x < 10}
 A predicate may be used:
S = {x | P(x)}
Example: S = {x | Prime(x)}
 Positive rational numbers:
Q + = {x ∈ R | x = p/q, for some positive integers p,q}
Interval Notation
[a,b] = {x | a ≤ x ≤ b}
[a,b) = {x | a ≤ x < b}
(a,b] = {x | a < x ≤ b}
(a,b) = {x | a < x < b}

closed interval [a,b]

open interval (a,b)
Universal Set and Empty Set
 The universal set U is the set containing everything
currently under consideration.
 Sometimes implicit
 Sometimes explicitly stated Venn Diagram
 Contents depend on the context
U

 The empty set is the set with no V aei

ou
elements. Symbolized ∅, but
{ } also used.
John Venn (1834-1923)
Cambridge, UK
Some things to remember
 Sets can be elements of sets.
{{1,2,3},a, {b,c}}
{N,Z,Q,R}

 The empty set is different from a set containing the

empty set.
∅ ≠{∅}
Set Equality
Definition: Two sets are equal if and only if they have
the same elements.
 Therefore if A and B are sets, then A and B are equal if
and only if .

 We write A = B if A and B are equal sets.

{1,3,5} = {3,5,1}
{1,5,5,5,3,3,1} = {1,3,5}
Subsets
Definition: The set A is a subset of B, if and only if
every element of A is also an element of B.
 The notation A ⊆ B is used to indicate that A is a subset
of the set B.

 A ⊆ B holds if and only if is true.

1. Because a ∈ ∅ is always false, ∅ ⊆ S , for every set S.

2. Because a ∈ S → a ∈ S, S ⊆ S, for every set S.

Showing a Set is or is not a Subset
of Another Set
 Showing that A is a Subset of B: To show that A ⊆ B,
show that if x belongs to A, then x also belongs to B.

 Showing that A is not a Subset of B: To show that A is

not a subset of B, A ⊈ B, find an element x ∈ A with x ∉ B.
(Such an x is a counterexample to the claim that x ∈ A
implies x ∉ B.)

Examples:
1. The set of all computer science majors at your institute is a
subset of all students at your institute.
2. The set of integers with squares less than 100 is not a
subset of the set of nonnegative integers.
Another look at Equality of Sets
 Recall that two sets A and B are equal, denoted by
A = B, iff

 Using logical equivalences we have that A = B iff

 This is equivalent to
A⊆B and B⊆A
Proper Subsets
Definition: If A ⊆ B, but A ≠ B, then we say A is a
proper subset of B, denoted by A ⊂ B.

If A ⊂ B, then

is true.
U
B
Venn Diagram A
Set Cardinality
Definition: If there are exactly n distinct elements in S
where n is a nonnegative integer, we say that S is finite.
Otherwise it is infinite.
Definition: The cardinality of a finite set A, denoted by
|A|, is the number of (distinct) elements of A.

Examples:
1. |ø| = 0
2. Let S be the letters of the English alphabet. Then |S| = 26
3. |{1,2,3}| = 3
4. |{ø}| = 1
5. The set of integers is infinite.
Power Sets
Definition: The set of all subsets of a set A, denoted
P(A), is called the power set of A.
Example: If A = {a,b} then
P(A) = {ø, {a},{b},{a,b}}

 If a set has n elements, then the cardinality of the

power set is 2ⁿ.
Tuples
 The ordered n-tuple (a1,a2,…..,an) is the ordered
collection that has a1 as its first element and a2 as its
second element and so on until an as its last element.
 Two n-tuples are equal if and only if their
corresponding elements are equal.
 2-tuples are called ordered pairs.

 The ordered pairs (a, b) and (c, d) are equal if and only
if a = c and b = d.
 René Descartes
(1596-1650)
Cartesian Product
Definition: The Cartesian Product of two sets A and B,
denoted by A × B is the set of ordered pairs (a,b) where
a ∈ A and b ∈ B.

Example:
A = {a,b} B = {1,2,3}
A × B = {(a,1),(a,2),(a,3), (b,1),(b,2),(b,3)}

 Definition: A subset R of the Cartesian product A × B is

called a relation from the set A to the set B. (Relations
will be covered later in depth. )
Cartesian Product
Definition: The cartesian product of the sets A1,A2,……,An,
denoted by A1 × A2 × …… × An , is the set of ordered
n-tuples (a1,a2,……,an) where ai belongs to Ai
for i = 1, … n.

Example: What is A × B × C where A = {0,1}, B = {1,2} and

C = {0,1,2}
Solution: A × B × C = {(0,1,0), (0,1,1), (0,1,2),(0,2,0),
(0,2,1), (0,2,2), (1,1,0), (1,1,1), (1,1,2), (1,2,0), (1,2,1),
(1,2,2)}
Truth Sets of Quantifiers
 Given a predicate P and a domain D, we define the truth set of P
to be the set of elements in D for which P(x) is true. The truth set
of P(x) is denoted by

 Example: The truth set of P(x) where the domain is the integers
and P(x) is “|x| = 1” is
the set {-1,1}.
 Example: The truth set of Q(x) where the domain is the integers
and P(x) is “𝑥 2 = 2” is
the set ∅.
 Example: The truth set of R(x) where the domain is the integers
and P(x) is “|x| = x” is
the set N.
Russell’s Paradox
 Let S be the set of all sets which are not members of
themselves. A paradox results from trying to answer
the question “Is S a member of itself?”

 Related Paradox:
 Henry is a barber who shaves all people who do not
shave themselves. A paradox results from trying to
answer the question “Does Henry shave himself?”

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)

Cambridge, UK
Nobel Prize Winner
Section Summary
 Set Operations
 Union
 Intersection
 Complementation
 Difference
 More on Set Cardinality
 Set Identities
 Proving Identities
 Membership Tables
Set Operations
 The operators in set theory are analogous to the
corresponding operator in propositional calculus.

 As always there must be a universal set U, all sets are

assumed to be subsets of U.

 Propositional calculus and set theory are both

instances of an algebraic system called a Boolean
Algebra. This will be discussed later.
Union
 Definition: Let A and B be sets. The union of the sets
A and B, denoted by A ∪ B, is the set:

 Example: What is {1,2,3} ∪ {3, 4, 5}?

Venn Diagram for A ∪ B
Solution: {1,2,3,4,5} U
A B
Intersection
 Definition: The intersection of sets A and B, denoted
by A ∩ B, is

 Note if the intersection is empty, then A and B are said

to be disjoint.
 Example: What is {1,2,3} ∩ {3,4,5}? Venn Diagram for A ∩B
Solution: {3} U
 Example: What is {1,2,3} ∩ {4,5,6}? A B
Solution: ∅
Complement
Definition: If A is a set, then the complement of the A
(with respect to U), denoted by Ā is the set U - A
Ā = {x ∈ U | x ∉ A}
(The complement of A is sometimes denoted by Ac .)
Example: If U is the positive integers less than 100,
what is the complement of {x | x > 70}?
Solution: {x | x ≤ 70} Venn Diagram for Complement
U
Ā
A
Difference
 Definition: Let A and B be sets. The difference of A
and B, denoted by A – B, is the set containing the
elements of A that are not in B. The difference of A
and B is also called the complement of B with respect
to A.
A – B = {x | x ∈ A  x ∉ B} = A ∩B

U Venn Diagram for A − B

A
B
Symmetric Difference
Definition: The symmetric difference of A and B,
denoted by is the set

Example:
U = {0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10} U

A = {1,2,3,4,5} B ={4,5,6,7,8} A B

What is :
Solution: {1,2,3,6,7,8}
Venn Diagram
Review Questions
Example: U = {0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10} A = {1,2,3,4,5}, B ={4,5,6,7,8}
1. A∪B
Solution: {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8}
2. A∩B
Solution: {4,5}
3. Ā
Solution: {0,6,7,8,9,10}
4.
Solution: {0,1,2,3,9,10}
5. A – B
Solution: {1,2,3}
6. B – A
Solution: {6,7,8}
The Cardinality of the Union of Two
Sets
• Inclusion-Exclusion U
|A ∪ B| = |A| + | B| − |A ∩ B|
A B

Venn Diagram for A, B, A ∩ B, A ∪ B

• Example: Let A be the Math majors in your class and B be the CS

majors. To count the number of students who are either Math majors or
CS majors, add the number of Math majors and the number of CS
majors, and subtract the number of joint CS/math majors.
Generalized Unions and Intersections
 Let A1, A2 ,…, An be an indexed collection of sets.
We define:

These are well defined, since union and intersection are

associative.
 Example: Let Ai = {i, i + 1, i + 2, ….}. Then,
Set Identities
 Identity laws

 Domination laws

 Idempotent laws

 Complementation law
Set Identities
 Commutative laws

 Associative laws

 Distributive laws
Set Identities
 De Morgan’s laws

 Absorption laws

 Complement laws
Proving Set Identities
 Different ways to prove set identities:
1. Prove that each set (side of the identity) is a subset of
the other.

2. Use set builder notation and propositional logic.

3. Membership Tables: Verify that elements in the same

combination of sets always either belong or do not
belong to the same side of the identity. Use 1 to
indicate it is in the set and a 0 to indicate that it is not.
Proof of Second De Morgan Law
Example: Prove that
Solution: We prove this identity by showing that:

1) and

2)
Proof of Second De Morgan Law
These steps show that:
Proof of Second De Morgan Law
These steps show that:
Set-Builder Notation: Second De
Morgan Law
Membership Table
Example: Construct a membership table to show that the distributive law
holds.

Solution:

A B C
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1
1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1
1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1
0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0
0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Computer Representation of Sets
 There are various ways to represent sets using a computer.

 One method is to store the elements of the set in an

unordered fashion. However, if this is done, the
operation of computing the union, intersection, or
difference of two sets would be time-consuming, because
of large amount of searching for elements.

 We will present a method for storing elements using an

arbitrary ordering of the elements of the universal set.
Computer Representation of Sets
 Assume that the universal set 𝑈 is finite (and of
reasonable size so that the number of elements of 𝑈 is
not larger than the memory size of the computer being
used).

 First, specify an arbitrary ordering of the elements of 𝑈,

for instance 𝑎1, 𝑎2, … , 𝑎𝑛 .

 Represent a subset 𝐴 ⊆ 𝑈 with the bit string of length 𝑛,

where the 𝑖𝑡ℎ bit in this string is
1 if 𝑎𝑖 ∈ 𝐴, and
0 if 𝑎𝑖 ∉ 𝐴.
 Example
 Example: Let 𝑈 = {1, 2, … , 10}, and the ordering of elements
of 𝑈 has the elements in increasing order; that is 𝑎𝑖 = 𝑖. What
bit strings represent the subset of all odd integers in 𝑈, the
subset of all even integers in 𝑈, and the subset of integers not
exceeding 5 in 𝑈?

 Solution:
Bit string to represent the subset of all odd integers in 𝑈
is 10 1010 1010.
Bit string to represent the subset of all even integers in 𝑈
is 01 0101 0101.
Bit string to represent the subset of integers not
exceeding 5 in 𝑈 is 11 1110 0000.
Partitions of Sets
 A partition or quotient set of a nonempty set 𝐴 is a
collection P of nonempty subsets of 𝐴 such that
1. Each element of 𝐴 belongs to one of the sets in P .
2. If 𝐴1 and 𝐴2 are distinct elements of P, then
𝐴1 ⋂𝐴2 = Φ.

 The sets in P are called the blocks or cells of the

partitions.
Example
 Let
ℤ = set of integers,
𝐴1 = set of all even integers, and
𝐴2 = set of all odd integers.

Then {𝐴1, 𝐴2} is a partition of ℤ.

 Example
 Example: Let 𝐴 = 𝑎, 𝑏, 𝑐, 𝑑, 𝑒, 𝑓, 𝑔, 𝑕 . Consider the following
subsets of 𝐴:
𝐴1 = {𝑎, 𝑏, 𝑐, 𝑑}, 𝐴2 = {𝑎, 𝑐, 𝑒, 𝑓, 𝑔, 𝑕}, 𝐴3 = {𝑎, 𝑐, 𝑒, 𝑔},
𝐴4 = {𝑏, 𝑑}, 𝐴5 = {𝑓, 𝑕}.
Is {𝐴1 , 𝐴2 }, {𝐴1 , 𝐴5 }, and {𝐴3, 𝐴4 ,𝐴5 } are partitions of 𝐴?

 Solution:
{𝐴1 , 𝐴2 } is not a partition since 𝐴1 ⋂𝐴2 ≠ Φ.

{𝐴1 , 𝐴5 } is not a partition since 𝑒 ∉ 𝐴1 and 𝑒 ∉ 𝐴5 .

{𝐴3 , 𝐴4 ,𝐴5 } is a partition of 𝐴.