Introduction

In common parlance, we find people using the words given in the title of this unit. Do they have the same meaning in mathematics? You’ll find this out by studying this unit. You will also see how basic the concept of ‘set’ and ‘function’ or to any area of mathematics and subjects depend on mathematics.

In this unit we will begin by introducing you to various kinds of sets. You will also study operations like, ‘union’ and ‘intersection’. While doing so you will see in what way Venn diagrams are a useful tool for understanding and working with sets.

Next we will discuss what a relation is, and expose you to some important types of relations. You will come across while studying banking, engineering, information technology and computer science, of course mathematics. As you will see in your study of computer science, an extensive use of functions is made in problem-solving.

Finally, we lead you detailed discussion of functions. Over here we particularly focus on various points of functions and fundamental operations on functions.  

Objectives

After studying this unit, you should be able to:

• explain what a set , a relation or a function is
• give examples and non-examples of sets, relations and functions
• perform different operations on sets
• establish relationships between operations on sets and those on statements in logic
• use Venn diagrams
• explain the difference between a relation and a function
• describe different types of relations and functions
• define and perform the four basic operations on functions