Discrete Mathematics (Notebook)

- Define a set

Set, In mathematics and logic, any collection of objects (elements), which may
be mathematical (e.g., numbers, functions) or not. The intuitive idea of a set is
probably even older than that of number. Members of a herd of animals, for
example, could be matched with stones in a sack without members of either
set actually being counted. The notion extends into the infinite. For example,
the set of integers from 1 to 100 is finite, whereas the set of all integers is
infinite. A set is commonly represented as a list of all its members enclosed in
braces. A set with no members is called an empty, or null, set, and is denoted
∅. Because an infinite set cannot be listed, it is usually represented by a
formula that generates its elements when applied to the elements of the set of
counting numbers. Thus, {2x | x = 1,2,3,...} represents the set of positive even
numbers (the vertical bar means “such that”).
- Methods of Describing a set

- Kinds/Types of Sets

Types of Sets

In set theory, there are different types of sets. All the operations in set theory could be based on sets. Set
should be a group of individual terms in domain. The universal set has each and every element of domain.
We are having different types of sets. We will see about the different types of sets.

Different Types of Sets

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There are different types of sets in set theory. They are listed below:

 Empty set
 Singleton set
 Finite and Infinite set
 Union of sets
 Intersection of sets
 Difference of sets
 Subset of a set
 Disjoint sets
 Equality of two sets

Empty Set
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A set that has no element should be called as Empty set. Another name for Empty set could be Null set
and Void set. Number of element in set X is represented as n(X). The empty set is denoted as Φ. Thus,
n(Φ) = 0. The cardinality of an empty set is zero since it has no element.
→ Read More

Singleton Set
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A set that has one and only one element should be called as Singleton set. Sometimes, it is known as
unit set. The cardinality of singleton is one. If A is a singleton, then we can express it as
A = {x : x = A}

Example: Set A = {5} is a singleton set.

Finite and Infinite Set

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A set that has predetermined number of elements or finite number of elements are said to be Finite set.
Like {1 ,2, 3, 4, 5, 6} is a finite set whose cardinality is 6, since it has 6 elements.

Otherwise, it is called as infinite set. It may be uncountable or countable. The union of some infinite sets
are infinite and the power set of any infinite set is infinite.

Examples:

1. Set of all the days in a week is a finite set.

2. Set of all integers is infinite set.

Union of Sets
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Union of two or else most numbers of sets could be the set of all elements that belongs to every element
of all sets. In the union set of two sets, every element is written only once even if they belong to both the
sets. This is denoted as ‘∪’. If we have sets A and B, then the union of these two is A U B and called as A
union B.

Mathematically, we can denote it as A U B = {x : x ∈∈ A or x∈∈ B}

The union of two sets is always commutative i.e.A U B = B U A.

Example: A = {1,2,3}

B = {1,4,5}

A ∪∪ B = {1,2,3,4,5}→ Read More

Intersection of Sets
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It should be the set of elements that are common in both the sets. Intersection is similar to grouping up
the common elements. The symbol should be denoted as ‘∩’. If A and B are two sets, then the
intersection is denoted as A ∩∩ B and called as A intersection B and mathematically, we can write it as
A∩B={x:x∈A∧x∈B}A∩B={x:x∈A∧x∈B}

Example: A = {1,2,3,4,5}
B = {2,3,7}
A ∩∩ B = {2,3}→ Read More

Difference of Sets
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The difference of set A to B should be denoted as A - B. That is, the set of element that are in set A not in
set B is
A - B = {x: x ∈∈ A and x ∉ B}

And, B - A is the set of all elements of the set B which are in B but not in A i.e.
B - A = {x: x ∈∈ B and x ∉ A}.

Example:

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

A - B = {1,3,5} and B - A = {6,7,8}

Subset of a Set
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In set theory, a set P is the subset of any set Q, if the set P is contained in set Q. It means, all the
elements of the set P also belongs to the set Q. It is represented as '⊆’ or P ⊆⊆ Q.

Example:

A = {1,2,3,4,5}
B = {1,2,3,4,5,7,8}
Here, A is said to be the subset of B.

Disjoint Sets
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If two sets A and B should have no common elements or we can say that the intersection of any two sets
A and B is the empty set, then these sets are known as disjoint sets i.e. A ∩∩ B = ϕϕ. That means, when
this condition n (A ∩ B) = 0 is true, then the sets are disjoint sets.

Example:
A = {1,2,3}
B = {4,5}
n (A ∩ B) = 0.
Therefore, these sets A and B are disjoint sets.

Equality of Two Sets

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Two sets are said to be equal or identical to each other, if they contain the same elements. When the sets
P and Q is said to be equal, if P ⊆ Q and Q ⊆ P, then we will write as P = Q.

Examples:

1. If A = {1,2,3} and B = {1,2,3}, then A = B.

2. Let P = {a, e, i, o, u} and B = {a, e, i, o, u, v}, then P ≠≠ Q, since set Q has element v as the extra
element.

- Properties of Sets

PROPERTIES OF SET OPERATIONS

About "Properties of set operations"
Properties of set operations :

When two or more sets are combined together to form another set under
some given conditions, then operations on sets are carried out.

The following are the important properties of set operations.

(i) COMMUTATIVE PROPERTY

(a) A u B = B u A (Set union is commutative)

(b) A n B = B n A (Set intersection is commutative)

(ii) ASSOCIATIVE PROPERTY

(a) A u (B u C) = (A u B) u C

(Set union is associative)

(b) A n (B n C) = (A n B) n C

(Set intersection is associative)

(iii) DISTRIBUTIVE PROPERTY

(a) A n (B u C) = (A n B) u (A n C)

(Intersection distributes over union)

(a) A u (B n C) = (A u B) n (A u C)

(Union distributes over intersection)

The two basic properties to represent a set are explained below using various
examples.

1. The change in order of writing the elements does not make any
changes in the set.

In other words the order in which the elements of a set are written is not
important. Thus, the set {a, b, c} can also be written as {a, c, b} or {b, c, a}
or {b, a, c} or {c, a, b} or {c, b, a}.

For Example:

Set A = {4, 6, 7, 8, 9} is same as set A = {8, 4, 9, 7, 6}

i.e., {4, 6, 7, 8, 9} = {8, 4, 9, 7, 6}

Similarly, {w, x, y, z} = {x, z, w, y} = {z, w, x, y} and so on.

2. If one or many elements of a set are repeated, the set remains the
same.

In other words the elements of a set should be distinct. So, if any element of a
set is repeated number of times in the set, we consider it as a single element.
Thus, {1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4} = {1, 2, 3, 4}
The set of letters in the word ‘GOOGLE’ = {G, O, L, E}

For Example:

The set A = {5, 6, 7, 6, 8, 5, 9} is same as set A= {5, 6, 7, 8, 9}

i.e., {5, 6, 7, 6, 8, 5, 9} = {5, 6, 7, 8, 9}

In general, the elements of a set are not repeated. Thus,

(i) if T is a set of letters of the word ‘moon’: then T = {m, o, n},

There are two o’s in the word ‘moon’ but it is written in the set only once.

(ii) if U = {letters of the word ‘COMMITTEE’}; then U = {C, O, M, T, E}

- Diagrams used in Sets

Venn diagrams can be used to express the logical (in the mathematical sense) relationships
between various sets. The following examples should help you understand the notation, terminology,
and concepts relating Venn diagrams and set notation.

Let's say that our universe contains the numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4, so U = {1, 2, 3, 4}. Let A be the set
containing the numbers 1 and 2; that is, A = {1, 2}.

Note: The curly braces are the customary notation for sets. Do not use parentheses or square
brackets.

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Let B be the set containing the numbers 2 and 3; that is, B = {2, 3}. Then we can find various set
relationships with the help of Venn diagrams. In what follows, I've used pinkish shading to mark the
solution "regions" in the Venn diagrams.

For A = {1, 2}, B = {2, 3}, U = {1, 2, 3, 4}, find the following using a Venn diagram:

 \footnotesize{\mathbf{\color{green}{ A \cup B }}}A∪B

is pronounced as: A union B

means: the new set that contains every element from either of A and B; if a thing is in either one of
these sets, it's in the new set

in terms of the elements: \small{ \{1, 2\} \cup \{2, 3\} }{1,2}∪{2,3}

Venn diagram:

my answer: \footnotesize{\mathbf{\color{purple}{ A \cup B = \textbf{\{}1, 2, 3\textbf{\}}

}}}A∪B={1,2,3}

The Venn diagram above illustrates the set notation and the logic of the answer. Since "union"
means "everything in either of the sets", all of each circle is shaded in. (If you're not clear on the
logic of the set notation, review set notation before proceeding further.)

The following examples work in the same way.

 \footnotesize{\mathbf{\color{green}{ A \cap B }}}A∩B

is pronounced as: "A intersect B"
means: the new set that contains every element that is in both of the input sets; only things inside
both of the input sets get added to the new set

in terms of the elements: \footnotesize{ \{1, 2\} \cap \{2, 3\} }{1,2}∩{2,3}

Venn diagram:

my answer: \footnotesize{\mathbf{\color{purple}{ A \cap B = \{2\} }}}A∩B={2}

 \footnotesize{\mathbf{\color{green}{ A^\complement }}}A∁ (sometimes denoted as

~A or \footnotesize{\mathbf{\color{green}{ \neg A }}}¬A)
is pronounced as: "A complement" (or "not A", for the other notations)

means: the new set gets everything that is in the universe but is outside of A; it's okay if the element
is in B, just so long as it is not also in A

in terms of the elements: {1, 2, 3, 4} – {1, 2}

Venn diagram:

my answer: \footnotesize{\mathbf{\color{purple}{ A^\complement = \{3, 4\} }}}A∁={3,4}

The tilde ("TILL-duh") is the wiggly "~" character at the beginning of ~A; on your keyboard, the tilde
is probably located at or near the left-hand end of the row of numbers. The tilde, in the set-relation
context, says that I now want to find the complement (in a sense, the opposite) of whatever is being
negated or "thrown out"; in this case, that's the set A. The kind of complement we see in this
exercise, the "not" complement, means "throw out everything you have now (in this case, the set A)
and take everything else in the universe instead".

Practically speaking, the "not" complement with the tilde says to reverse the shading, which is how I
got the final picture above.

 A – B (or A \ B)
is pronounced as: "A minus B" or "A complement B"

means: the new set gets everything that is in A except for anything in its overlap with B; if it's
in A and not in B, then it goes into the new set; nothing from the overlap in the diagram (being the
intersection of the input sets) goes into the new set

in terms of the elements: {1, 2} – {2, 3}

Venn diagram:

my answer: A – B = {1}

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 ~\footnotesize{\mathbf{\color{green}{ \textbf{(}A \cup B \textbf{)} = \neg \textbf{(}A

\cup B\textbf{)} }}}(A∪B)=¬(A∪B)

is pronounced as: "not (A union B)" (or "the complement of (A union B)")

means: the new set gets everything that is outside A and B; if something is in either of the input
sets, it doesn't go into the new set

( )
in terms of the elements: {1, 2, 3, 4} – {1, 2} \cup∪ {2, 3} = {1, 2, 3, 4} – {1, 2, 3}

Venn diagram:

my answer: ~\footnotesize{\mathbf{\color{purple}{ \textbf{(}A \cup B\textbf{)} =

\textbf{\{}4\textbf{\}} }}}(A∪B)={4}

 ~\footnotesize{\mathbf{\color{green}{ \textbf{(}A \cap B\textbf{)} = \neg\textbf{(}A \cap

B\textbf{)} }}}(A∩B)=¬(A∩B)
is pronounced as: "not (A intersect B)" (or "the complement of (A intersect B)")

means: the new set contains everything outside of the overlap of A and B; if something is in both of
the input sets, then it isn't in the new set; everything outside of the overlap of the input sets
(including everything in the universe but outside of the input sets) goes into the new set

( )
in terms of the elements: {1, 2, 3, 4} – {1, 2} \cap∩ {2, 3} = {1, 2, 3, 4} – {2}

Venn diagram:
my answer: ~\footnotesize{\mathbf{\color{purple}{ \textbf{(}A \cup B\textbf{)} =
\textbf{\{}1, 3, 4\textbf{\}} }}}(A∪B)={1,3,4}

There are gazillions of other possibilities for set combinations and relationships, but the above are
among the simplest and most common. Some of the examples above showed more than one way of
formatting (and pronouncing) the same thing. Different texts use different set notation, so you should
not be at all surprised if your text uses still other symbols than those used above. But while the
notation may differ, the concepts will be the same.

By the way, as you probably noticed, your Venn-diagram "circles" don't have to be perfectly round;
ellipses will do just fine.

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Sometimes you'll be asked to find set intersections, unions, etc, without knowing what the sets
actually are. This is okay. The Venn diagrams can still help you figure out the set relations.

 Given the following Venn diagram, shade in \footnotesize{\mathbf{\color{green}{ A \cap C

}}}A∩C.

My thinking: The intersection of A and C is just the overlap between those two circles, so my answer
is:
The exercise only asked for a graph of the result of the set notation. They didn't give me any
elements for the universe or any of the sets. The shaded-in picture is the answer they're wanting.

 Given the following Venn diagram, shade in \footnotesize{\mathbf{\color{green}{ A \cup

\textbf{(}B - C\textbf{)} }}}A∪(B−C).

My thinking: As usual when faced with parentheses, I'll work from the inside out.

I'll first find B – C. "B complement C" means I take B and then throw out its overlap with C, which
gives me this:

Now I have to union this with A, meaning that I have to add everything from A to what I got at the
previous step. My answer is:
Note that unioning with A in the last step above put some of C (that is, some of what I'd cut out when
I did "B – C") back into the answer. This is okay. Just because we threw out C at one point, doesn't
mean that it all has to stay out forever.

 [
Given the following Venn diagram, shade in ~ (B \footnotesize{\mathbf{\color{green}{

\cup }}}∪ C) – A].

As usual when dealing with nested grouping symbols, I'll work from the inside out.

The union of B and C shades both circles fully:

Now I'll do the "complement A" part by cutting out the overlap with A:
The "not" complement with the tilde says to reverse the shading, so my final answer is: