S E C T I O N 2.

4 | Applications of Sets 85

E X T E N S I O N S
Critical thinking ■ In Exercises 80 and 81, use a Venn diagram similar to the
Difference of Sets Another operation that can be defined one at the left below to shade in the region represented by the
on sets A and B is the difference of the sets, denoted by given expression.
A ! B. Here is a formal definition of the difference of sets A 80. $A # B% $ $C" # D%
and B. 81. $A $ B%" # $C # D%
A ! B ! !x " x ! A and x " B#
Thus A ! B is the set of elements that belong to A but not Explorations
to B. For instance, let A ! !1, 2, 3, 7, 8# and B ! !2, 7, 11#. 82. In an article in New Scientist magazine, Anthony W. F.
Then A ! B ! !1, 3, 8#. Edwards illustrated how to construct Venn diagrams that
■ In Exercises 73 to 78, determine each difference, given involve many sets.1 Search the Internet to find Edwards’s
that U ! !1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9#, A ! !2, 4, 6, 8#, and method of constructing a Venn diagram for five sets and
B ! !2, 3, 8, 9#. a Venn diagram for six sets. Use drawings to illustrate
Edwards’s method of constructing a Venn diagram for
73. B ! A 74. A ! B five sets and a Venn diagram for six sets. (Source:
75. A ! B" 76. B" ! A http://www.combinatorics.org/Surveys/
77. A" ! B" 78. A" ! B ds5/VennWhatEJC.html)
79. John Venn Write a few paragraphs about the life
of John Venn and his work in the area of
mathematics.
The following Venn diagram illustrates that four sets can
partition the universal set into 16 different regions.
U
B C
A D

s e c t i o n 2.4 Applications of Sets

Surveys: An Application of Sets
Counting problems occur in many areas of applied mathematics. To solve these counting
problems, we often make use of a Venn diagram and the inclusion-exclusion principle,
which will be presented in this section.

▼ example 1 A Survey of Preferences

A movie company is making plans for future movies it wishes to produce. The company
Brand X Pictures/PictureQuest

has done a random survey of 1000 people. The results of the survey are shown below.
695 people like action adventures.
340 people like comedies.
180 people like both action adventures and comedies.

1
Anthony W. F. Edwards, “Venn diagrams for many sets,” New Scientist, 7 January 1989, pp. 51–56.

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 86 CHAPTER 2 | Sets

Of the people surveyed, how many people

a. like action adventures but not comedies?
b. like comedies but not action adventures?
c. do not like either of these types of movies?
Solution
A Venn diagram can be used to illustrate the results of the survey. We use two overlap-
ping circles (see Figure  2.5). One circle represents the set of people who like action
adventures and the other represents the set of people who like comedies. The region i
where the circles intersect represents the set of people who like both types of movies.
We start with the information that 180 people like both types of movies and write
180 in region i. See Figure 2.6.

U U
Action Action
adventures Comedies adventures Comedies

515 180 160

ii i iii
ii i iii
145
iv iv

F I G U R E 2.5 F I G U R E 2.6

a. Regions i and ii have a total of 695 people. So far we have accounted for 180 of
these people in region i. Thus the number of people in region ii, which is the set of
people who like action adventures but do not like comedies, is 695 ! 180 ! 515.
b. Regions i and iii have a total of 340 people. Thus the number of people in region iii,
which is the set of people who like comedies but do not like action adventures, is
340 ! 180 ! 160.
c. The number of people who do not like action adventure movies or comedies is rep-
resented by region iv. The number of people in region iv must be the total number of
people, which is 1000, less the number of people accounted for in regions i, ii, and
iii, which is 855. Thus the number of people who do not like either type of movie is
1000 ! 855 ! 145.

▼ check your progress 1

The athletic director of a school has surveyed
200 students. The survey results are shown below.
140 students like volleyball.
120 students like basketball.
85 students like both volleyball and basketball.
Of the students surveyed, how many students
a. like volleyball but not basketball?
b. like basketball but not volleyball?
c. do not like either of these sports?
Solution See page S6. ◀

In the next example we consider a more complicated survey that involves three types
of music.

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 S E C T I O N 2. 4 | Applications of Sets 87

▼ example 2 A Music Survey

A music teacher has surveyed 495 students. The results of the survey are listed below.
320 students like rap music.
395 students like rock music.
Andre Blais/Shutterstock.com

295 students like heavy metal music.

280 students like both rap music and rock music.
190 students like both rap music and heavy metal music.
245 students like both rock music and heavy metal music.
160 students like all three.

How many students

a. like exactly two of the three types of music?
b. like only rock music?
c. like only one of the three types of music?

Solution
U The Venn diagram at the left shows three overlapping circles. Region i represents the set
of students who like all three types of music. Each of the regions v, vi, and vii represent
Rock Rap the students who like only one type of music.
v ii vi
i a. The survey shows that 245 students like rock and heavy metal music, so the
iv iii
numbers we place in regions i and iv must have a sum of 245. Since region i has
vii 160 students, we see that region iv must have 245 ! 160 ! 85 students. In a
viii similar manner, we can determine that region ii has 120 students and region iii
Heavy metal
has 30 students. Thus 85 # 120 # 30 ! 235 students like exactly two of the three
types of music.
U b. The sum of the students represented by regions i, ii, iv, and v must be 395. The
number of students in region v must be the difference between this total and
Rock Rap the sum of the numbers of students in region i, ii, and iv. Thus the number of
30 120 10
v ii vi
160 students who like only rock music is 395 ! $160 # 120 # 85% ! 30. See the Venn
85 i 30
iv iii diagram at the left.
40
20
vii
c. Using the same reasoning as in part b, we find that region vi has 10 students and
viii region vii has 20 students. To find the number of students who like only one type
Heavy metal
of music, find the sum of the numbers of students in regions v, vi, and vii, which is
30 # 10 # 20 ! 60. See the Venn diagram at the left.

▼ check your progress 2An activities director for a cruise ship has sur-
veyed 240 passengers. Of the 240 passengers,
135 like swimming. 80 like swimming and dancing.
150 like dancing. 40 like swimming and games.
65 like games. 25 like dancing and games.
15 like all three activities.
How many passengers
a. like exactly two of the three types of activities?
b. like only swimming?
c. like none of these activities?

Solution See page S6. ◀

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 88 CHAPTER 2 | Sets

MATHMATTERS Grace Chisholm Young (1868 – 1944)

Grace Chisholm Young studied mathematics at Girton College, which is part of
Cambridge University. In England at that time, women were not allowed to earn a
university degree, so she decided to continue her mathematical studies at the Uni-
versity of Göttingen in Germany, where her advisor was the renowned mathemati-
cian Felix Klein. She excelled while at Göttingen and at the age of 27 earned her
Courtesy of Sylvia Wiegand

doctorate in mathematics, magna cum laude. She was the first woman officially to
earn a doctorate degree from a German university. Shortly after her graduation she
married the mathematician William Young. Together they published several mathe-
matical papers and books, one of which was the first textbook on set theory.
Grace Chisholm Young

The Inclusion-Exclusion Principle

A music director wishes to take the band and the choir on a field trip. There are 65 stu-
dents in the band and 30 students in the choir. The number of students in both the band
and the choir is 16. How many students should the music director plan on taking on the
field trip?
U Using the process developed in the previous examples, we find that the number of
students that are in only the band is 65 ! 16 ! 49. The number of students that are in
Band Choir only the choir is 30 ! 16 ! 14. See the Venn diagram at the left. Adding the numbers of
students in regions i, ii, and iii gives us a total of 49 # 16 # 14 ! 79 students that might
49 16 14
ii i iii go on the field trip.
Although we can use Venn diagrams to solve counting problems, it is more conve-
nient to make use of the following technique. First add the number of students in the band
to the number of students in the choir. Then subtract the number of students who are in
both the band and the choir. This technique gives us a total of $65 # 30% ! 16 ! 79
students, the same result as above. The reason we subtract the 16 students is that we have
counted each of them twice. Note that first we include the students that are in both the
band and the choir twice, and then we exclude them once. This procedure leads us to the
following result.

TA K E N O T E ▼ The Inclusion-Exclusion Principle

Recall that n $A % represents the
h number
b For all finite sets A and B,
of elements in set A.
n$A $ B% ! n$A% # n$B% ! n$A # B%

q u e s t i o n What must be true of the finite sets A and B if

n(A $ B) ! n(A) # n(B)?

▼ example 3 An Application of the Inclusion-Exclusion Principle

A school finds that 430 of its students are registered in chemistry, 560 are registered in
mathematics, and 225 are registered in both chemistry and mathematics. How many
students are registered in chemistry or mathematics?

answer A and B must be disjoint sets.

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 S E C T I O N 2. 4 | Applications of Sets 89

Solution
Let C ! !students registered in chemistry# and let
M ! !students registered in mathematics#.
n$C $ M% ! n$C% # n$M% ! n$C # M%
! 430 # 560 ! 225
! 765
Using the inclusion-exclusion principle, we see that 765 students are registered in chem-
istry or mathematics.

▼ check your progress 3 A high school has 80 athletes who play basket-
ball, 60 athletes who play soccer, and 24 athletes who play both basketball and soccer.
How many athletes play either basketball or soccer?
Solution See page S7. ◀

The inclusion-exclusion principle can be used provided we know the number of ele-
ments in any three of the four sets in the formula.

▼ example 4 An Application of the Inclusion-Exclusion Principle

Given n$A% ! 15, n$B% ! 32, and n$A $ B% ! 41, find n$A # B%.
Solution
Substitute the given information in the inclusion-exclusion formula and solve for the
unknown.
n$A $ B% ! n$A% # n$B% ! n$A # B%
41 ! 15 # 32 ! n$A # B%
41 ! 47 ! n$A # B%
Thus
n$A # B% ! 47 ! 41
n$A # B% ! 6

▼ check your progress 4 Given n$A% ! 785, n$B% ! 162, and

n$A $ B% ! 852, find n$A # B%.
Solution See page S7. ◀

The inclusion-exclusion formula can be adjusted and applied to problems that involve
percents. In the following formula we denote “the percent in set A” by the notation p$A%.

▼ The Percent Inclusion-Exclusion Formula

For all finite sets A and B,
p$A $ B% ! p$A% # p$B% ! p$A # B%

▼ example 5 An Application of the Percent Inclusion-Exclusion Formula

A blood donation organization reports that about

44% of the U.S. population has the A antigen.

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 90 CHAPTER 2 | Sets

AB + 15% of the U.S. population has the B antigen.

3%
AB – B– 4% of the U.S. population has both the A and the B antigen.
1% 2%
Use the percent inclusion-exclusion formula to estimate the percent of the U.S. popula-
B+ A– tion that has the A antigen or the B antigen.
9%
6%
O+ Solution
38%
We are given p$A% ! 44%, p$B% ! 15%, and p$A # B% ! 4%. Substituting in the per-
A+ cent inclusion-exclusion formula gives
34%
p$A $ B% ! p$A% # p$B% ! p$A # B%
O– ! 44% # 15% ! 4%
7%
! 55%
Approximate Percentage of Thus about 55% of the U.S. population has the A antigen or the B antigen.
U.S. Population with Each
Blood Type
▼ check your progress 5 A blood donation organization reports that about
44% of the U.S. population has the A antigen.
84% of the U.S. population is Rh#.
91% of the U.S. population either has the A antigen or is Rh#.
Use the percent inclusion-exclusion formula to estimate the percent of the U.S. popu-
lation that has the A antigen and is Rh#.
Solution See page S7. ◀

In the next example, the data are provided in a table. The number in column G and
row M represents the number of elements in G # M. The sum of all the numbers in col-
umn G and column B represents the number of elements in G $ B.

▼ example 6 A Survey Presented in Tabular Form

A survey of men M, women W, and children C concerning the use of the Internet search
engines Google G, Yahoo! Y, and Bing B yielded the following results.

Google (G) Yahoo! (Y) Bing (B)

Men (M) 440 310 275

Women (W) 390 280 325

Children (C) 140 410 40

Use the data in the table to find each of the following.

a. n$W # Y % b. n$G # C"% c. n$M # $G $ B%%
Solution
a. The table shows that 280 of the women surveyed use Yahoo! as a search engine.
Thus n$W # Y % ! 280.
b. The set G # C" is the set of surveyed Google users who are men or women. The
number in this set is 440 # 390 ! 830.
c. The number of men in the survey that use either Google or Bing is
440 # 275 ! 715.

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