Sets

Sets
A set is a collection of objects, things or
symbols which are clearly defined.

The individual objects in a set are called

the members or elements of the set.

A set does not list an element more than

once since an element is either a member of the
set or it is not.
 Sets

There are two known ways to identify a set:

1. Listing or Roster method

2. Set – builder Notation

Roster Method
The set can be defined by listing all its elements,
separated by commas and enclosed within braces.

Example :

B = {2, 4, 6, 8, 10}
X = {a, b, c, d, e}
Set – Builder
Notation
Describe a set by stating a property that all
elements in the set have.

:
Example
C = {n|n is a positive even integer less than 10}.
D = {x : x is an integer, x > – 3 }
Implicit Enumeration
For larger sets, we cannot list all elements, so we
indicate the pattern of the elements, and use an
ellipsis (...) to say “and so on”.
Example :
A = {1, 2, 3, 4, ..., 20}
B = {1, 2, 3, 4, ...}
The Null Set
There are some sets that do not contain any
element at all. We call a set with no elements
the null or empty set. It is represented by the symbol
{ } or Ø.

Example :

The set of months with 32 days.

Cardinality of a Set
The cardinality of a set A, written as |A| or n(A), is
the number of elements in A. Cardinality may be
interpreted as "set size" or "the number of elements
in a set".

Example:
P = {1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.5, 2.0}
|P|= 5
Brain Exercise!
Write the following given sets using the roster method.

1. Let G be the set of all whole numbers less than 20 but greater
than 13.
2. Let L be the set of all natural numbers less than 101.
3. Let N be the set of all positive integers that can divide 36.
4. Let F be the set of all positive integers that are the factors of
100.
5. Let Y be the set of all whole numbers less than 50 but greater
than 0 that are divisible by 2 and 4.
Brain Exercise:
Answers
1. G = {14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19}

2. L = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5,…, 98, 99, 100}

3. N = {1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 12, 18, 36}

4. F = {1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 20, 25, 50, 100}

5. Y = {4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36, 40, 44, 48}