Readings for Session 3 – Set Notation

 

Why was there a problem answering the following question? 

In a game like “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” you don’t hear the beginning of the question, but the end of the question is “Who is the President?”  You reply, “Barack Obama.”  But the winning answer is “Edna Mora Szymanski.”

  

         Just like knowing which nation or group we are referring to is important to correctly answer the question “Who is the President?”, in mathematics it is important to know which group of numbers or ideas is being referred to by a particular statement or question.  

          In mathematics, we frequently define the group we are referring to by using the language of sets.  Understanding basic set language is part of understanding how mathematics works.  We will be using sets and set concepts throughout this course.

 

  

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