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Mathematics LibreTexts

4: Sets

  • Page ID
    113149
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    It is natural for us to classify items into groups, or sets, and consider how those sets overlap with each other. We can use these sets understand relationships between groups, and to analyze survey data.

    The material in this chapter is from Math In Society by David Lippman.

    • 4.1: Basics of Sets
      An art collector might own a collection of paintings, while a music lover might keep a collection of CDs. Any collection of items can form a set.
    • 4.2: Union, Intersection, and Complement
      Commonly sets interact. For example, you and a new roommate decide to have a house party, and you both invite your circle of friends. At this party, two sets are being combined, though it might turn out that there are some friends that were in both sets.
    • 4.3: Venn Diagrams
      To visualize the interaction of sets, John Venn in 1880 thought to use overlapping circles, building on a similar idea used by Leonhard Euler in the 18th century. These illustrations now called Venn Diagrams.
    • 4.4: Cardinality
      Often times we are interested in the number of items in a set or subset. This is called the cardinality of the set.
    • 4.5: Chapter Review and Glossary
    • 4.6: Exercises


    4: Sets is shared under a not declared license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by David Lippman & Jeff Eldridge.

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