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Set and Set Theory
Definition of Set:-
- A well defined collection of distinct objects or things or numbers is known as a set.
- The word "well defined" means the objects or things must be definite and there is
no ambiguity whether to keep the object in the specified collection or not.
- The concept of set was introduced by a German mathematician George Cantor
(1845 AD-1918AD).So, he is the founder of set theory.
Naming of a set and its members:-
- The objects of a set are called the members or the elements of the set.
- A set is generally denoted by a capital letter like A, B, C, ... etc. or some special
symbols like R , R,Q , N ... etc. and elements of the set are denoted by small letters a,
b, c, ..., numbers, names, figure and so on.
Examples:
1. The collection of months in a year is a set.
2. The group of vowels letters in English alphabet is a set.
3. The collection of counting numbers is a set.
4. The group of lazy students in a class is not a set because the collection is not well
defined.

- If 𝞱 is a member of a set S, we write 𝞱∈S, which is read as ' 𝞱 is in S' or ' 𝞱 is a

Membership of a set:-

member of S' or ' 𝞱 belongs to S'.

- Similarly, if β is not in B, we write β ∉ B .
Presentation or Specification of Set
A set can be presented or specified in the following ways.
1. Listing or tabulation or roster method: In this method, a set is specified by listing all
the elements within braces { } and they are separated by a comma.
Examples
V = {a, e, i, o, u}
N = {1, 2, 3, 4 ,...}
M = {Baisakh, Jestha, ..., Chaitra}
2. Description or rule method: In this method of specification, the description about the
set is written in words or phrases which best describe the set and may or may not be
enclosed within the braces.
Examples:
A = { First four counting numbers}
B = { vowels of english alphabet}
3. Set builder method: In this method of specification, a set is represented by using
statement or phrase describing the common property of elements with some symbols.
Examples:
P = { x: 2<x<9, x∈N}
Q = { y: y is a perfect square number less than 30}
Types of Sets
Sets can be classified on the basis of special features of elements. There are different
types of sets which are discussed below:
(i) Null, Empty or Void Set: A set having no element is known as null, empty or void set.
It is denoted by Ø. For example,
(i) A = {x: x is an odd integers divisible by 2}
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(ii) B = {x: x = 4, x is odd}
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A and B are empty sets in the above two cases.

(ii) Finite Set: A set is finite if it consists of a specific number of different elements, i.e.
the counting process of the different members/elements of the set can come to an end.
For examples, (i) A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5} and (ii) A = {a, e, i, o, u}
(iii) Infinite Set: If the elements of a set cannot be counted in a finite number, the set is
called an infinite set.
For example, (a) Let A = {1, 2, 3, 4 ......}
(b) Let A = {x : x is a positive integer divisible by 5}, are infinite sets, as
the process of counting the elements of these sets would be endless.

subset of B. We denote the relationship by writing A ⊆ B, which can also be read as “A

(iv)Sub Sets: If every element in a set A is also the element of a set B, then A is called a

is contained in B.”
Examples: Consider, A = {1, 2, 3, 4......}
B = {x : x is a positive even number}

In this case B ⊆ A and C ⊆ A, because all the positive even and odd numbers are
C = {x: x is a positive odd number}

included in the set A.

It is clear from the definition that every set is the subset of itself.
Sub sets are of two types: proper sub set and improper sub set, which are described as
below.

of A. It is represented symbolically as B ⊂ A, which is read as B is the proper subset of

(v) Proper subset: If B is a subset of A and B is not equal to A then B is a proper subset

A.

In this case, C ⊂ A and C ⊂ B, because the elements of C set are included in the sets A
Examples: Consider the sets A = {a, b, c, d}, B = {a, c, b, d} and C = {a, c, d}.

and B, but the element ‘b’ in of A and B sets is not element of C set.
(vi) Equal sets: Two sets A and B are said to be equal if every element which belongs to
A also belongs to B, and if every element which belongs to B, also belongs to A.
We denote the equality of sets A and B by ‘A = B’.
For example, let A = {2, 3, 4}, B = {4, 2, 3}, C = {2, 4, 3}, then A = B = C, since each
element which belongs to any one of the sets also belongs to the other two sets.
(vii) Equivalent sets: If the elements of one set can be put into one to one
correspondence with the elements of another set, then the two sets are called
equivalent sets.
For example, Let A = {a, b, c, d, e, f} and B = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}
In this case, the elements of set A can be put into one to one correspondence with
those of set B.
Hence the two sets are equivalent. It is denoted by A ≡ B.
(viii) Unit set/singleton Set: A set containing only one element is called a unit set or
singleton set. For example,
(a) A = {a}
(b) B = {x | x is a number between 27 and 34 divisible by 10}
In B set, 30 is the only number between 27 and 34 which is divisible by 10.
(ix) Power set: The set of all the subsets of a given set A is called the power set of A.
We denote the power set of A by P(A).

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The power set is denoted by the fact that ‘if A has n elements then its power set P(A)
contains exactly 2n elements’.
For example, let A = {a, b, c} then its subset are {a}, {b}, {c}, {a,b}, {b,c}, {c,a}

∴ P (A) = { {a}, {b}, {c}, {a,b), {b,c}, {c,a}, {a,b,c}, {Ø}}

{a,b,c}, {Ø}

(x) Disjoint sets: If the sets A and B have no element in common, i.e., if no element of A
is in B and no element of B is in A, then we say that A and B are disjoint.
For example, let A = {3, 4, 5} and B= {8, 9, 10, 11}, then A and B sets are disjoint
because there is no element common in these two sets.
(xi) Universal sets: The universal set is the set of all objects under discussion. It is
denoted by U.
For example, while discussing about the teachers of different departments in Canvas
Academy, the set of all teachers in Canvas Academy is the universal set.

Venn Diagrams
A Venn diagram or Euler-Venn diagram is a visual tool in which circles are used to show
the relationships, similarities, and differences between two or more sets.
In Venn diagrams, each circle represents a set, the overlapping region, if any, shows
common or shared elements, and the non-overlapping parts show unique
characteristics of the set.
Generally Venn diagram is used to help visualize any set and the relationship between
sets.
In further discussion, we will use the concept of Venn diagram to illustrate various set
operations. Some examples of Venn-diagrams:

A and B are overlapping

Operations on Sets
This section introduces a number of set operations, including the basic operations of
union, intersection, complement and difference.

∪ B, is the set of all elements which belong to A or to B; that is,

(A) Union of two sets: The union of two sets A and B, denoted by A

A ∪ B = {x : x ∈ A or x ∈ B}

diagram in which A ∪ B is shaded.

Here “or” is used in the sense of and/or. Figure alongside is a Venn

(B) Intersection: The intersection of two sets A and B, denoted by A

∩ B, is the set of elements which belong to both A and B; that is,

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 A ∩ B = {x : x ∈ A and x ∈ B}
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(C) Difference of two sets: The relative complement of a set B with respect to a set A

belong to A but which do not belong to B; that is A\B = {x | x ∈ A, x /∈ B}

or, simply, the difference of A and B, denoted by A\B, is the set of elements which