Sets

• Sets are discrete groups of items. For example, the number of people who
received a 2.0 in Mr. Paner’s College Algebra class can be considered a
set. A set contains only those things that can fit its definitions. If a student
got 3.0 in Mr. Paner’s class, he cannot be in the set of students who got
2.0s. If you have a set that is defined as (1, 2, 3), then the only things that
can be in that set are (1, 2, 3).

• Sample Problem:

Of the lions at the zoo, 13 eat zebra meat, 11 eat giraffe meat,
and 7 eat both. How many total lions are there in the zoo?

When you read it, this question just feels like it’s going to be very hard. A
lot of students will not even try to answer it. So what does that mean to
you? It’s a chance for you to gain points in comparison to other students.
Luckily, this type of question is actually quite simple to answer, as long as
you know and use the following formula:

Total = number in set 1 + number in set 2 – number common to set 1 and 2

To answer the question about the lions, write:

Total lions = 13 zebra eaters + 11 giraffe eaters – 7 eaters of both Total lions =17

Once you know the formula, all you have to do is figure out which
numbers in the word problem define set 1, which define set 2, and which
define the overlap set. After that, you just have to put in the numbers and
do some simple addition and subtraction.

Subsets of Whole Numbers

• Set A is a subset of a set B if each member of A is also a member of B. To

indicate this write
A ⊂ B (read “A is a subset of B”)
• For example, the set N of the natural numbers is a subset of the set W of
whole numbers:
N ⊂W
• To picture this, a diagram can be drawn. (The letter U stands for the
universal set, the set that contains all numbers.)
N = {1, 2, 3 . . .}
W= {0, 1, 2 . . .}
 U

W
N
0 12

• When you think of the whole numbers that have some special property,
you think of a subset W.
• There are different subsets of whole numbers. Many of these subsets
have special properties. The study of subsets of whole numbers with
special properties is called number theory.
• The whole numbers are probably used more often in everyday life than
any numbers. So it is natural for you to compute them with them without a
second thought. However, in the next examples the focus will be
specifically on two subsets that can be formed as a result of multiplication.

Example A: Use the set of whole numbers {0, 1, 2, 3. . . } and multiply each
number in the set by 2. List the set of numbers you get. What name is usually
given to this set?

0 1 2 3 4....n

x2 x2 x2 x2 x2 . . . . x2

0 2 4 ? ? ?

A number that is 2 times a whole number is called an even number.

E = {2, 4, 6, 8. . . .}

Example B: Start with the set of even numbers {2, 4, 6, 8. . .}and add 1 to each
number in the set. Write the results. What is this set usually called?

0 2 4 6 8. . . . 2 x n

+1 +1 +1 +1 +1. . . +1

1 3 5 7 9. . . (2 x n) +1

A number that is one more than an even number is called an odd number.
O = {1, 3, 5, 7, 9. . .}