Sets
Exponents and Exponential Expressions
Polynomial Arithmetic
Factoring
Rational Expressions
Radical Expressions
Functions Basics
New Functions Constructed From Old
Linear Functions
Quadratic Functions
Exponential Functions
Logarithms

Set Membership

Try some of the problems below for determining whether a particular element belongs to each given set!

Try the following!

True!

Notice that 3 is listed second in \(\{1,3,5,7,11\}\), and so is in the set.

False!

4 is not listed anywhere in the set \(\{1,3,5,2,11\}\)

True!

When you see a pattern in the set, it is helpful to fill in the “…” with the elements that come next. Doing so in \(\{1,3, 5, …, 15, 17, 19, 21\}\) gives you \(\{1,3,5,7,11,13,15,17,19, 21\}\). As you can tell, 7 is in this set!

True!

There isn’t really a limitation as to what can be contained in a set. This means you can have sets within sets, or sets as elements of bigger sets. In the case of \(\{1,3, 5, 7, \{1,2\}, \{3,4,5\}\}\), there are 6 elements inside this set, NOT 9. The sets \(\{1,2\}\) and \(\{3,4,5\}\) as a whole are elements of the bigger set. Therefore, \(\{1,2\}\in \{1,3, 5, 7, \{1,2\}, \{3,4,5\}\}\).

False!

While the set \(\{2,3,4,5,\{1,5\}\}\) contains the elements 2 and 5, it does not contain the SET CONTAINING 2 and 5; i.e. \(\{2,5\}\notin \{2,3,4,5,\{1,5\}\}\).

True!

The interval \((2,10)\) consists of all numbers (including decimals and fractions) between 2 and 10, but not including 2 and 10. 3 is definitely a number that falls between 2 and 10.

True!

\(3.14159\) is a number between \(-1\) and \(5\).

True!

The interval \([2.52,4)\) contains all numbers (including decimals and fractions) between 2.52 and 4, including 2.52, but NOT including 4.

True!

The interval \([-20,\infty)\) includes all numbers greater than or equal to -20. 13 is definitely greater than or equal to -20 and therefore lives in that interval.

False!

The interval \((-\infty, 12)\) includes only numbers STRICTLY less than 12 (as indicated by the round bracket at 12). Since 12 isn’t STRICTLY less than itself, 12 isn’t in the interval.

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