SETS

A set is a well-defined and unordered collection of objects, called elements

or members of the set.

In the above definition of sets well-defined means, it is possible to decide

if a given object belongs to the set or not.
Unordered means that the order in which the objects of set are listed is not
important.

Example: A = {2, 3, 5, 7} is a set of prime numbers less than 10.

In the above example, 2 belongs to/is an element of set A and is

represented by 2 A.
13 does not belong to/is not an element of set A and is represented by
13 A.

NOTE: In general, we use upper case letters to denote sets and lower case
letters to denote members or elements of the set.

Specifying a Set
There are two ways to specify a set.

Roster method
Set-Builder method

In Roster method, we list all the members of the set between braces.

Example: V = {a, e, i, o, u} is a set of vowels.

In Set-Builder method, we list the condition that an object must satisfy to
become member of the set.

Example: V = {x | x is a vowel}.
NOTE:
N
Z
Z+
Q
Q+
Q*
R
R+
R*
C
C*

=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=

{0, 1, 2, 3, . . .}, the set of natural numbers.

{. . . ,2,1, 0, 1, 2, . . .}, the set of integers.
{1, 2, 3, . . .}, the set of positive integers.
{p/q | p Z, q Z, and q 0}, the set of rational numbers.
the set of positive rational numbers.
the set of non-zero rational numbers.
the set of real numbers.
the set of positive real numbers.
the set of non-zero real numbers.
{x + iy | x, y R, i2 = -1}, the set of complex numbers.
the set of non-zero complex numbers.

Type of Sets
Null Set : A set with no elements. It also referred to as an Empty set, denoted by
{ } or .
Singleton Set: A set with only a single element.

Finite Set: A set which has n distinct elements, where n is a positive integer.
Infinite Set: A set in which number of elements cannot be defined.