SETS

SETS
SET : A set is a collection of well defined objects which are distinct from each other
Set are generally denoted by capital letters A, B, C, …. etc. and the elements of the set by a, b,
c… etc.
If a is an element of a set A, then we write a  A and say a belongs to A.
If a does not belong to A then we write a  A,
Ex. The collection of first five prime natural numbers is a set containing the elements 2, 3, 5, 7, 11.
SOME IMPORTANT NUMBER SETS :
N = Set of all natural numbers
= {1, 2, 3, 4, ….}
W = Set of all whole numbers
= {0, 1, 2, 3, ….}
Z or I set of all integers
= {…. –3, –2, –1, 0, 1, 2, 3, ….}
+
Z = Set of all + ve integers
= {1, 2, 3, ….} = N.
–
Z = Set of all – ve integers
= {–1, –2, –3, ….}
Z0 = The set of all non–zero integers
= {±1, ±2, ±3, ….}
Q = The set of all rational numbers
p 
=  : p, q  I, q  0 
q 
R = The set of all real numbers
R – Q = The set of all irrational numbers
e.g. 2, 3, 5,....  e, log2 etc. are all irrational numbers.
METHODS TO WRITE A SET :
(i) Roster Method : In this method a set is described by listing elements, separated by
commas and enclose then by curly brackets
Ex. The set of vowels of English Alphabet may be described as {a, e, i, o, u}
(ii) Set Builder Form : In this case we write down a property or rule p Which gives us all
the element of the set
A = {x : P(x)}
Ex. A = {x : x N and x = 2n for n  N}
i.e. A = {2, 4, 6. …..}
Ex. B = {x2 : x  z}
i.e. B = {0, 1, 4, 9, ……}

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 SETS
TYPES OF SETS :
Null set or Empty set : A set having no element in it is called an Empty set or a null set or a
void set it is denoted by  or { }
Ex. A = {x  N : 5 < x < 6} = 
A set consisting of at least one element is called a non-empty set or a non-void set.
Singleton : A set consisting of a single element is called a singleton set.
Ex. Then set {0}, is a singleton set
Finite Set. A set which has only finite number of elements is called a finite set.
Ex. A = {a, b, c}
Order of a finite set : The number of elements in a finite set A is called the order of the set A
and is denoted O(A) or n(A). It is also called cardinal number of the set.
Ex. A = {a, b, c, d}  n(A) = 4
Infinite set : A set which has an infinite number of elements is called an infinite set.
Ex. A = {1, 2, 3, 4, …..} is an infinite set
Equal sets : Two sets A and B are said to be equal if every element of A is a member of B, and
every element of B is a member of A.
If sets A and B are equal. We write A = B and A and B are not equal then A  B
Ex. A = {1, 2, 6, 7} and B = {6, 1, 2, 7}  A = B
Equivalent sets : Two finite sets A and B are equivalent if their number of elements are same
i.e. n(A) = n(B)
Ex. A = {1, 2, 3, 7,} B = {a, b, c, d}
n(A) = 4 and n(B) = 4  n(A) = n(B)
Note : Equal set always equivalent but equivalent sets may not be equal
Subsets : Let A and B be two sets if every element of A is an element of B, then A is called a
subset of B if A is a subset of B. we write A  B
Ex. A = {1, 2, 3, 4} and B = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7}  A  B
The symbol "" stands for "implies"
Proper subset : If A is a subset of B and A  B then A is a proper subset of B. and we write
A  B.
Note-1 : Every set is a subset of itself i.e. A  A for all A
Note-2 : Empty set  is a subset of every set
Note-3 : Clearly N  W  Z  Q  R  C
Note-4 : The total number of subsets of a finite set containing n elements is 2n
Universal set : A set consisting of all possible elements which occur in the discussion is called
a universal set and is denoted by U
Note : All sets are contained in the universal set
Ex. If A = {1, 2, 3}, B = {2, 4, 5, 6}, C = {1, 3, 5, 7}, then U = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7} can be taken as
the Universal set.
Power set : Let A be any set. The set of all subsets of A is called power set of A and is denoted
by P(A)
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 SETS
Ex. 1 Let A = {1, 2} then P(A) = { {1}, {2}, {1, 2}}
Ex. 2 Let P() = {}
 P(P()) = { {}}
 P(P(P()) = {    }
Note-1 : If A =  then P(A) has one element
Note–2 : Power set of a given set is always non empty
Some Operation on Sets :
(i) Union of two sets : A  B = {x : x  A or x  B}
e.g. A ={1, 2, 3}, B = {2, 3, 4} then A  B = {1, 2, 3, 4}
(ii) Intersection of two sets : A  B = {x : x  A and x  B}
e.g. A ={1, 2, 3}, B = {2, 3, 4} then A  B = { 2, 3}
(iii) Difference of two sets : A − B = {x : x  A and x  B}
e.g. A = {1, 2, 3}, B = {2, 3, 4} ; A − B = {1}
(iv) Complement of a set : A' = {x : x  A but x  U} = U – A
e.g. U = {1, 2, ….., 10}, A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5} then A' = {6, 7, 8, 9, 10}
(v) De-Morgan Laws : (A  B)' = A'  B' ; (A  B)' = A'  B'
(vi) A – (B  C) = (A – B)  (A – C) ; A – (B  C) = (A – B)  (A – C)
(vii) Distributive Laws : A  (B  C) = (A  B)  (A  C); A  (B  C) = (A  B)  (A  C)
(viii) Commutative Laws : A  B = B  A ; A  B = B  A
(ix) Associative Laws : (A  B)  C = A  (B  C); (A  B)  C = A  (B  C)
(x) A=;AU=A
A=A;AU=U
(xi) A    ; A  B  B
(xii) A    ; B  A  B
(xiii) A      B = A
(xiv) A  B  A  B = B

Disjoint Sets :
If A  B = . then A, B are disjoint.
e.g. if A = {1, 2, 3}, B = {7, 8, 9} then A  B = 
Note: A, A' are disjoint if A  A' = 
Symmetric Difference of Sets :
A  B = (A – B)  (B – A)
• (A')' = A
• A  B  B'  A'
If A and B are any two sets, then
(i) A – B = A  B' (ii) B – A = B  A'
(iii) A – B = A  A  B =  (iv) (A – B)  B = A  B
(v) (A – B)  B = 
(vi) (A – B)  (B – A) = (A  B) – (A  B)

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 SETS
Venn Diagrams :

Clearly (A – B)  (B – A)  (A  B) = A  B

Note : A  A' =  , A  A' = U

SOME IMPORTANT RESULTS ON NUMBER OF ELEMENTS IN SETS:
If A, B and C are finite sets, and U be the finite universal set, then
(i) n(A  B) = n(A) + n(B) – n(A  B)
(ii) n(A  B) = n(A) + n(B)  A, B are disjoint non-void sets.
(iii) n(A – B) = n(A) – n(A  B) i.e. n(A – B) + n(A  B) = n(A)
(iv) n(A  B) = No. of elements which belong to exactly one of A or B
= n((A – B)  (B – A))
= n(A – B) + n(B – A) [ (A – B) and (B – A) are disjoint]
= n(A) – n(A  B) + n(B) – n(A  B)
= n(A) + n(B) – 2n(A  B)
(v) n(A  B  C) = n(A) + n(B) + n(C) – n(A  B) – n(B  C) – n(A  C) + n (A  B  C)
(vi) Number of elements in exactly two of the sets A, B, C
= n(A  B) + n(B  C) + n(C  A) – 3n(A  B  C)
(vii) Number of elements in exactly one of the sets A, B, C
= n(A) + n(B) + n(C) –2n(A  B) –2n(B  C) –2n(A  C) + 3n(A  B  C)
(viii) n(A'  B') = n((A  B)') = n(U) – n(A  B)
(ix) n(A'  B') = n((A  B)') = n(U) – n(A  B)
Ex. In a group of 1000 people, there are 750 who can speak Hindi and 400 who can speak Bengali.
How many can speak Hindi only? How many can speak Bengali only? How many can speak
both Hindi and Bengali?
Sol. Let A and B be the sets of persons who can speak Hindi and Bengali respectively.
then n(A  B) = 1000, n(A) = 750, n(B) = 400.
Number of persons who can speak both Hindi and Bengali
= n(A  B) = n(A) + n(B) – n(A  B)
= 750 + 400 – 1000 = 150
Number of persons who can speak Hindi only
= n(A – B) = n(A) – n(A  B) = 750 – 150 = 600
Number of persons who can speak Bengali only
= n(B – A) = n(B) –n(A  B) = 400 – 150 = 250

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 SETS
SOLVED EXAMPLES
Ex. 1 The set A = {x : x  R, x2 = 16 and 2x = 6} is equal to –
(1)  (2) {14, 3, 4} (3) {3} (4) {4}
Sol. (1)
x2 = 16  x = ±4
2x = 6  x = 3
There is no value of x which satisfies both the above equations.
Thus, A = 
Hence (1) is the correct answer

Ex.2 Let A = {x : x  R, |x| < 1}; B = {x : x  R, |x – 1|  1} and A  B = R – D, then the set D is-
(1) {x : 1 < x  2} (2) {x : 1  x < 2} (3) {x : 1  x  2} (3) none of these
Sol. (2)
A = {x : x  R, –1 < x < 1}
B = {x : x  R : x – 1  − or x −   }
= {x : x  R : x  0 or x  2}
AB=R–D
where D = {x : x  R, 1  x < 2}
Thus (2) is the correct answer.

Ex.3 If aN = {ax : x  N}, then the set 6N  8N is equal to-

(1) 8N (2) 48N (3) 12N (4) 24N
Sol. (4)
6N = {6, 12, 18, 24, 30, …..}
8N = {8, 16, 24, 32…..}
 6N  8N = {24, 48, ……} = 24N
Short cut Method
6N  8N = 24N [24 is the L.C.M. of 6 and 8]

Ex.4 If P,Q and R subsets of a set A, then R×(P'  Q')' =

(1) (R×P)(R×Q) (2) (R×Q)(R×P) (3) (R×P)(R×Q) (4) none of these
Sol. (1,2)
R×(P'Q')' = R×[(P')'(Q')'] = R×(PQ) = (R×P) (R×Q)
Hence (1), (2) is the correct answer.

Ex.5 If A = {x, y}, then the power set of A is-

(1) {xy, yx} (2) {, x, y} (3) {, {x}{2y}} (4) {, {x}, {y}, {x,y}}
Sol. (4)
Clearly P(A) = Power set of A
= set of all subsets of A
= {, {x}, {y}, {x, y}}
 (4) is the correct answer.

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 SETS
Ex. 6 There are 200 students in a school. Out of these, 100 students play cricket, 50 students play
hockey and 60 students play basketball. 30 students play both cricket and hockey, 35 students
play both hockey and basketball, and 45 students play both basketball and cricket.
(a) What is the maximum number of students who play at least one game?
(b) What is the maximum number of students who play all the three games?
(c) What is the minimum number of students playing at least one game?
(d) What is the minimum number of students who play all the three games?

Sol.

60

Consider the Venn diagram given above :

At first we will convert all the values in terms of x, which can be seen above.
Since the number of students can not be negative.
x – 15  0
 x – 20  0
So, iv. For the minimum number of students playing all three games, i.e., x = 20.
For maximum value of x, again none of the categories should have –ve number of students.
 30 – x  0
x  30
If x is more than 30, 30 – x would be – ve which is not possible.
Total number of students playing at least one game,
= 100 + x – 15 + 35 – x + x – 20
= 100 + x
So, the minimum number of students playing at least one game = 100 + 20 = 120
Hence, the maximum number of students playing at least one game = 100 + 30 = 130.

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 SETS
EXERCISE # I
1. If A and B are two sets, then A  (A  B)' is equal to-
(1) A (2) B (3)  (4) none of these

2. If A is any set, then-

(1) A  A' =  (2) A  A' = U (3) A  A' = U (4) none of these

3. Let U = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10}, A = {1, 2, 5}, B = {6, 7} then A  B' is-

(1) B' (2) A (3) A' (4) B.

4. If A and B are two sets then A  B = A  B iff-

(1) A  B (2) B  A (3) A = B (4) none of these

5. Let A and B are two sets, in the universal set. Then A – B equals-
(1) A  B' (2) A'  B (3) A  B (4) none of these

6. Two sets A, B are disjoint iff-

(1) A  B =  (2) A  B   (3) A  B =  (4) none of these

7. If A  B, then A  B is equal to-

(1) A (2) B (3) A' (4) B'

8. If A and B are any two sets, then A  (A  B) is equal to-

(1) A (2) B (3) A' (4) B'

9. If A and B are not disjoint, then n(A  B ) is equal to-

(1) n(A) + n(B) (2) n(A) + n(B) –n(A  B)
(3) n(A) + n(B) + n(A  B) (4) n(A). n(B)

10. If A ={2, 4, 5} B = {7, 8, 9} then n(A×B) is equal to-

(1) 6 (2) 9 (3) 3 (4) 0

11. Let A and B be two sets such that n(A) = 70, n(B) = 60 and n(A  B) = 110. Then n(A  B) is
equal to–
(1) 240 (2)20 (3) 100 (4) 120

12. Which set is the subset of all given sets?

(1) {1, 2, 3, 4, ….} (2) {1} (3) {0} (4) {}

 1 
13. If Q =  x : x = , where y  N  , then-
 y 
2
(1) 0  Q (2) 1  Q (3) 2  Q (4) Q
3

14. A = {x : x  x} represents-
(1) {0} (2) {} (3) {1} (4) {x}

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 SETS
15. Which of the following statements is true ?
(1) 3  {1, 3, 5} (2) 3  {1, 3, 5} (3) {3}  {1, 3, 5} (4) {3, 5}  {1, 3, 5}

16. Which of the following is a null set?

(1) A = {x : x > 1 and x < 1} (2) B = {x : x + 3 = 3}
(3) C = {} (4) D = {x : x  1 and x  1}

17. P(A) = P(B) 

(1) A  B (2) B  A (3) A = B (4) none of these

18. In a recent survey (conducted by HLL) of 1,000 houses, washing machine, vacuum cleaners
and refrigerators were counted. Each house had at least one of these products. 400 had no
refrigerators, 380 had no vacuum cleaners, 542 had no washing machines. 294 had both a
vacuum cleaner and washing machines, 277 had both a vacuum cleaner and a refrigerator, and
120 had both a refrigerator and a washing machine. How many had only a vacuum cleaner ?
(1) 132 (2) 234 (3) 342 (4) 62

19. From 50 students taking examinations in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry, 37 passed,
Mathematics, 24 Physics and 43 Chemistry. At most 19 passed Mathematics and Physics , at
most 29 passed Mathematics and Chemistry and at most 20 passed Physics and Chemistry. The
largest possible number that could have passed all three examination is-
(1) 11 (2) 12 (3) 13 (4) 14

20. Let Z be the set of all integers and A = {(a, b) : a2 + 3b2 = 28, a, b  Z} and B = {(a, b) : a > b,
a, b  Z}. Then the number of elements in A  B, is-
(1) 2 (2) 4 (3) 6 (4) 5

21. In a class of 25 students, at least one of mathematics or statistics is taken by everybody. 12

have taken mathematics, 8 have taken mathematics but not statistics. Find the difference in the
number of students who have taken mathematics and statistics and those who have taken
statistics but not maths?
(1) 9 (2) 10 (3) 18 (4) 8

22. In a class of 200 students, 70 played cricket, 60 played hockey and 80 played football. 30
played cricket and football, 30 played hockey and football, 40 played cricket and hockey.
Find the maximum number of people playing all the three games and also the minimum
number of people playing at least one game ?
(1) 200, 100 (2) 30, 110 (3) 30, 120 (4) None of these

23. If class with n students is organized into four groups keeping the following conditions :
Each student belongs to exactly two groups and Each pair of groups has exactly one student in
common.
What is the value of n ?
(1) n = 11 (2) n = 7 (3) n = 9 (4) n = 6

24. If A = {1, 2, 3, 4}, then the number of subsets of set A containing element 3, is-
(1) 24 (2) 28 (3) 8 (4) 16

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 SETS

EXERCISE # II
PREVIOUS YEAR QUESTIONS
1. Sets A and B have 3 and 6 elements respectively. What can be the minimum number elements
in A  B ?
(1) 3 (2) 6 (3) 9 (4) 18

2. In a college of 300 students, every students reads 5 newspapers and every newspaper is read by
60 students. The number of newspapers is-
(1) at least 30 (2) at most 20 (3) exactly 25 (4) none of these

3. The shaded region in the given figure is-

(1) A  (B  C) (2) A  (B  C) (3) A  (B – C) (4) A – (B  C)

4. Let n(U) = 700, n(A) = 200, n(B) = 300 and n(A  B) = 100, then n(A'  B') =
(1) 400 (2) 600 (3) 300 (4) 200

5. If A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}, then the number of proper subsets of A is -

(1) 120 (2) 30 (3) 31 (4) 32

6. If A = {x : x2 – 5x + 6 = 0}, B = {2, 4}, C = {4, 5}, then A × (B  C) is-

(1) {(2, 4) (3, 4)} (2) {(4, 2) (4, 3)}
(3) {(2, 4) (3, 4) (4, 4)} (4) {(2, 2) (3, 3) (4, 4), (5, 5)}

7. If A = {(x, y) : x2 + y2 = 25} and B = {(x, y) : x2 + 9y2 = 144} then A  B contains-

(1) one point (2) three points (3) two points (4) four points

8. A class has 175 students. The following data shows the number of students obtaining one or
more subjects. Mathematics 100; Physics 70; Chemistry 40; Mathematics and Physics 30;
Mathematics and Chemistry 28; Physics and Chemistry 23; Mathematics, Physics and
Chemistry 18. How many students have offered Mathematics alone ?
(1) 35 (2) 48 (3) 60 (4) 22

9. If A, B and C are three sets such that A  B = A  C and A  B = A  C, then :-

(1) B = C (2) A  B =  (3) A = B (4) A = C

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 SETS
10. Two sets A and B are as under :
A = {(a, b) R × R : |a – 5| < 1 and |b – 5| < 1};
B = {(a, b) R × R : 4(a – 6)2 + 9 (b – 5)2 < 36}. Then :
(1) neither A  B nor B  A (2) B  A
(3) A  B (4) A  B =  (an empty set)

11. Let S = {x  R : x  0 and 2 | x − 3 | + x ( x − 6) + 6 = 0 }. Then S

(1) contains exactly four elements (2) is an empty set.
(3) contains exactly one element. (4) contains exactly two elements.

12. In a class of 140 students numbered 1 to 140, all even numbered students opted Mathematics,
course, those whose number is divisible by 3 opted Physics course and those whose number is
divisible by 5 opted Chemistry course. Then the number of students who did not opt for any of
the three courses is:
(1) 42 (2) 1 (3) 102 (4) 38

13. Let S = {1, 2,3 …….., 100}. The number of non–empty subsets A of S such that the product of
elements in A is even is :
(1) 250 + 1 (2) 250 (250–1) (3) 250 –1 (4) 2100 –1

2
14. Let Z be the set of integers. If A = {x  Z : 2(x +2)(x −5x +6) = 1} B : {x Z : – 3 < 2x – 1 < 9}, then
the number of subsets of the set A × B, is:
(1) 210 (2) 215 (3) 218 (4) 212

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 SETS
ANSWER KEY
EXERCISE # I
Que. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Ans. 3 2 2 3 1 3 1 1 2 2 2 4 2 2 2
Que. 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Ans. 1 3 4 4 3 1 3 4 3

EXERCISE # II
Que. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Ans. 2 3 4 3 3 1 4 3 1 3 4 4 2 2

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