DISCRETE MATHEMATICS
What is set?
Set is a well-defined collection of objects. These objects are called
the element of sets. It was invented by German Mathematician
Georg Cantor. Some examples of sets include:
A set of fruits: {apple, banana, orange}
A set of numbers: {1, 2, 3, 4}
A set of even numbers: {2, 4, 6, 8, 10, ....}
What is a Subset?
A subset is a set that has fewer or equal elements of another set.
The other set is called a Superset.
Types of Sets:-
(i) Singleton Set- A set consisting of only one element is said
to be a Singleton set.For example: Set S = {5}, M = {a} are said
to be singleton since they consist of only one element 5 and 'a'
respectively.
ii) Finite Set- A set whose number of elements is countable i.e.
finite or a set whose cardinality is a natural number (∈ N) is said
to be a Finite set.For example: Sets A = {a, b, c, d}, B =
{5,7,9,15,78} and C = { x : x is a multiple of 3, where
0<x<100). Here A, B and C all three contain a finite number of
elements i.e. 4 in A, 5 in B and 33 in C and therefore will be
called finite sets.
(iii) Infinite Set- A set containing infinite number of elements
i.e. whose cardinality can not found is said to be an Infinite
set. Thus, the set of all natural numbers.
N = {1, 2, 3, 4 . . . .} is an infinite set.
Similarly, the set of all rational numbers between any two
numbers will be infinite. For example,
A = {x : x ∈ Q, 2 < x < 5} is an infinite set.
(iv) Equal Sets- When two sets consists of same elements,
whether in the same order, they are said to be equal. In other
words, if each element of the set A is an element of the set B and
each element of B is an element of A, the sets A and B are called
equal, i.e., A = B.
For example, A = {1,2,3,4,5} and B = {1,5,2,4,3} , then A = B.
it is said to be the empty set. It is denoted by ∅. It is also
(v) Empty Set- If a set consists of no element (zero elements),
called null set or void set.
A common way of representing the null set is given by
∅ = { x : x ≠ x }, this set is empty, since there is no element
which is not equal to itself. For example, a = a, 2 = 2.
(vi) Subsets- Suppose A is a given set. Any set B, each of
whose elements is also an element of A, is called contained in A
The symbol ⊆ stands for "is contained in" or "is subset of". Thus,
and is said to be a subset of A.
if "B is contained in A" or "B is subset of A", we write
B ⊆ A.
When B is subset of A, we also say 'A contains B' or 'A is superset
of B.
The symbol ⊇ is read for "contains" this A ⊇ B means "A
contains B".
Example : If A = (3, 5, 7), B = (3, 5, 7, 9) than A ⊆ B since every
element of A is also an element of B. But B ⊄ A since 9 ∈ B while
9 ∉ A.
(vii) Proper Subset- If B is a subset of A and B ≠ A, then B is
said to be proper subset of A. In other words, if each element of
B is an element of A and there is at least one element of A which
"Is proper subset of" is symbolically represented by ⊂.
is not an element of B, then B is said to be a proper subset of A.
Also, the empty set ∅ is a proper subset of every set except
itself.
(viii) Improper Subset-Set A is called an improper subset of B
if and only if A = B.
Note : Every set is an improper subset of itself.
(ix) Power Set- The set of all subsets of a given set A, is said to
the set A= {a, b, c} then its subsets are ∅, {a}, {b}, {c}, {a, b},
be the power set of A. The power set of A is denoted by P(A). If
{a, c}, {b, c} {a, b, c}.
Therefore, P(A) = {∅, {a}, {b}, {c}, {a, b}, {a, c}, {b, c} {a, b,
c} }.
(x) Universal Set-A set which consists of all the elements of the
considering sets is said to be the Universal set for those setsIt is
generally denoted by U or S.
For example :
Consider the following sets, A = {a, b, c, d, e} ; B = {x, y, z} and
U = {a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, w, x, y, z}
Here, U is the universal set for A and B, since U contains all the
elements of A and B.
