Introduction to College Algebra

Algebra
A branch of mathematics in which symbols are used to represent unknown numbers of a particular set

Historical Background
The word algebra originated from the Arabic
word al-jabr which means restoration. In the 9th century A.D. alKhwarizm an Arab mathematician, wrote one of the first books on Algebra. Abu Kamil an Egyptian mathematician, was able to formulate the basic laws and identities of algebra & solve more complex problems.

Historical Background
Ancient
civilizations formed algebraic expressions using longhand notation. By medieval times, Islamic mathematicians were able to work out the basic algebra of polynomials. Omar Khayyam Persian mathematician, astronomer, and poet, was able to express roots of cubic equations using line segments by intersecting conic sections.

Historical Background
In
the early 13th century, Leonardo Fibonacci, was able to present a closest approximation to the solution of the cubic equation. 16th century the symbols for unknown and for algebraic powers and operations were introduced. Ren Descartes a French philosopher and mathematician who in 1673 wrote a book entitled Book III of La geometrie that looked much like a modern algebra text

SETS
A
SET is a well-defined collection of objects or things considered together and generally have something in common. A set is well-defined if one can determine whether or not a given element belongs to the set. The distinct objects of a given set are called ELEMENTS OR MEMBERS.

Sets are usually denoted by capital

letters such as A, B, C, etc.

SETS

The

elements of a set can be anything: numbers, letters, people, places and other objects

There are two ways to describe a set:

1. Description or Rule Method - A set may be described in words or by stating the rule 2. Listing or Roster Method - The elements of a set being described are listed down, separated from each other by commas and enclosed within a pair of braces.

Set Relationships
1. Equal sets are sets which have exactly the same elements. - They are also called IDENTICAL SETS. 2. One-to-One Correspondence - exists between two sets if each elements of each set can be associated with exactly one element of the other

Set Relationships
3. Equivalent sets two sets are said to be equivalent if they have the same number of elements or if there is a one-to-one correspondence between their elements. 4. Empty Set or Null Set a set without an element. 5. Finite Set if it is possible to write down a complete list of all its elements.

Set Relationships
6. Infinite Set - a set with an infinite number of elements or a set which is not finite.

7. Joint Sets - are sets that have common elements. 8. Disjoint sets sets that have no common element.

Set Relationships
9. Subsets Ex. Set A is a subset of set B of every element of set A is an element of set B.

10. Universal Set a set containing the elements of all sets being considered in a certain discussion

SETS of NUMBERS
1. Natural Numbers The most basic numbers are those used to count physical objects: 1, 2, 3, 4, and soon. These are called natural numbers and are represented by the (castellar) capital letter N.

SETS of NUMBERS
The notation : N = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, . . .} Read as: N is the set of numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and so on. To show membership in a set, the symbol is used. It is read is an element of or belongs to.

SETS of NUMBERS
2. Whole Numbers

- When zero is combined with the natural numbers, a new set is created called the whole numbers W = {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, . . .}

SETS of NUMBERS
- We say that the natural numbers are a subset of the whole numbers, denoted N W, since they are contained entirely in this set (every natural number is also a whole number). - The symbol means is a subset of.

SETS of NUMBERS
3. Integers

Numbers

greater than zero are positive

numbers. Every positive number has an opposite that is a negative number (a number less than zero).

 The

SETS of NUMBERS

set of zero and the natural numbers with their opposites gives the set of integers.

Z = {. . . , 3, 2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 3, . . .}

We can illustrate the size or magnitude

of a number (in relation to other numbers) using a number line

SETS of NUMBERS
Any number that corresponds to a point
on the number line is called the coordinate of that point.

When

we want to note a specific location on the line, a bold dot is used and a capital letter is assigned to the location.