Chapter 1

1.1 Sets, Relations, and Functions

Denition 1.1 A set is a welldened collection of objects.
Remarks:
1. We use upper case letters in English (or sometimes Greek) alphabet.
Examples:
(a) A = the set of brand of sardines in Puregold.
(b) Z = the set of distinct letters in the word Mississipi.
(c) = the set of prime counting numbers between 11 and 19.
2. The objects in the set are called elements or members of the set. The symbol for
the membership of the object is (lower case of Epsilon in Greek alphabet) which
is read an element, is in, a member of or belongs to. If an object does not
belong to the set we denote it as / which is read as the opposite of .
3. There are two ways to write a set:
The roster or tabular method. We may indicate a set by listing all the elements
of the set horizontally and enclosing it by braces.
Examples:
(a) Z = {m, i, s, p}
(b) = {11, 13, 17, 19}
The rule method or set builder notation. We may indicate a set by enclosing in
braces a descriptive phrase, and agreeing that those objects, and only those, which
have the described property are elements of the set.
Examples:
(a) Z ={x | x is a distinct letter in the word Mississipi}
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College Algebra CHAPTER 1.
(b) = {x | x is prime and 11 x 19}
4. Some special sets
(a) R = set of real numbers.
(b) Z = set of integers, i.e. {0, 1, 2, ...}
(c) N = set of counting (natural) numbers {1,2,3,...}.
(d) Q = set of rational numbers.
(e) C = complex numbers.
Sets can be classify into two things : (1) based on the number of its elements ; and (2) based
on the elements of the set itself.
Denition 1.2 The order (cardinality) of a set A, denoted as |A|, is the number of
elements in A.
Denition 1.3 We say that A is nite if it is possible to list down all of its elements
no matter how large |A| is, otherwise we say that A is innite.
Examples:
(a) In the previous page, the set |Z| = ||.
(b) The set A from the previous page may have many elements but we can still list down
all its elements, thus A is nite.
(c) All the special sets are innite, but their orders are not all equal.
Denition 1.4 Two sets, A and B, are equal if they have exactly the same elements. If
two sets are equal we denote it by A = B.
Examples:
(a) The set Z from the previous page is equal to the set X= the set of distinct letters in
the word imps.
(b) The set from the previous page is equal to the set ={x | 11 x 19 and is not
divisible by 3 or 2}
Denition 1.5 Two sets, A and B, are equivalent if a unique x A can be pair o to
a unique y B given that no element from the two sets will have no pair. If two sets are
equivalent we denote it by A B.
Example:
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