Element (mathematics)

Last updated February 04, 2025

In mathematics, an element (or member) of a set is any one of the distinct objects that belong to that set. For example, given a set called $A$ containing the first four positive integers ( $A=\{1,2,3,4\}$ ), one could say that "3 is an element of $A$ ", expressed notationally as $3\in A$ .

Sets

Writing $A=\{1,2,3,4\}$ means that the elements of the set $A$ are the numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4. Sets of elements of $A$ , for example $\{1,2\}$ , are subsets of $A$ .

Sets can themselves be elements. For example, consider the set $B=\{1,2,\{3,4\}\}$ . The elements of $B$ are not 1, 2, 3, and 4. Rather, there are only three elements of $B$ , namely the numbers 1 and 2, and the set $\{3,4\}$ .

The elements of a set can be anything. For example the elements of the set $C=\{\mathrm {\color {Red}red} ,\mathrm {12} ,B\}$ are the color red, the number 12, and the set $B$ .

In logical terms, $(x\in y)\leftrightarrow \forall x[P_{x}=y]:x\in {\mathfrak {D}}y$ .^{[ clarification needed ]}

Notation and terminology

The binary relation "is an element of", also called set membership, is denoted by the symbol "∈". Writing

x\in A

means that "x is an element of A".^[1] Equivalent expressions are "x is a member of A", "x belongs to A", "x is in A" and "x lies in A". The expressions "A includes x" and "A contains x" are also used to mean set membership, although some authors use them to mean instead "x is a subset of A".^[2] Logician George Boolos strongly urged that "contains" be used for membership only, and "includes" for the subset relation only.^[3]

For the relation ∈ , the converse relation ∈^T may be written

A\ni x

meaning "A contains or includes x".

The negation of set membership is denoted by the symbol "∉". Writing

x\notin A

means that "x is not an element of A".

The symbol ∈ was first used by Giuseppe Peano, in his 1889 work Arithmetices principia, nova methodo exposita .^[4] Here he wrote on page X:

Signum ∈ significat est. Ita $a \in b$ legitur a est quoddam b; …

which means

The symbol ∈ means is. So $a \in b$ is read as a is a certain b; …

The symbol itself is a stylized lowercase Greek letter epsilon ("ϵ"), the first letter of the word ἐστί , which means "is".^[4]

Character information
Preview	∈		∉		∋		∌
Unicode name	ELEMENT OF		NOT AN ELEMENT OF		CONTAINS AS MEMBER		DOES NOT CONTAIN AS MEMBER
Encodings	decimal	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex
Unicode	8712	U+2208	8713	U+2209	8715	U+220B	8716	U+220C
UTF-8	226 136 136	E2 88 88	226 136 137	E2 88 89	226 136 139	E2 88 8B	226 136 140	E2 88 8C
Numeric character reference	∈	∈	∉	∉	∋	∋	∌	∌
Named character reference	&Element;, &in;, ∈, &isinv;		&NotElement;, ∉, &notinva;		&ni;, &niv;, &ReverseElement;, &SuchThat;		&notni;, &notniva;, &NotReverseElement;
LaTeX	\in		\notin		\ni		\not\ni or \notni
Wolfram Mathematica	\[Element]		\[NotElement]		\[ReverseElement]		\[NotReverseElement]

Examples

Using the sets defined above, namely A = {1, 2, 3, 4}, B = {1, 2, {3, 4}} and C = {red, green, blue}, the following statements are true:

$2 \in A$
$5 \notin A$

${3, 4} \in B$
$3 \notin B$
$4 \notin B$
$yellow \notin C$

Cardinality of sets

The number of elements in a particular set is a property known as cardinality; informally, this is the size of a set.^[5] In the above examples, the cardinality of the set A is 4, while the cardinality of set B and set C are both 3. An infinite set is a set with an infinite number of elements, while a finite set is a set with a finite number of elements. The above examples are examples of finite sets. An example of an infinite set is the set of positive integers ${1, 2, 3, 4, ...}$ .

Formal relation

As a relation, set membership must have a domain and a range. Conventionally the domain is called the universe denoted U. The range is the set of subsets of U called the power set of U and denoted P(U). Thus the relation $\in$ is a subset of $U \times P(U)$ . The converse relation $\ni$ is a subset of $P(U) \times U$ .

Related Research Articles

Naive set theory is any of several theories of sets used in the discussion of the foundations of mathematics. Unlike axiomatic set theories, which are defined using formal logic, naive set theory is defined informally, in natural language. It describes the aspects of mathematical sets familiar in discrete mathematics, and suffices for the everyday use of set theory concepts in contemporary mathematics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Empty set</span> Mathematical set containing no elements

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This is a glossary of terms and definitions related to the topic of set theory.

References

↑ Weisstein, Eric W. "Element". mathworld.wolfram.com. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
↑ Eric Schechter (1997). Handbook of Analysis and Its Foundations. Academic Press. ISBN 0-12-622760-8. p. 12
↑ George Boolos (February 4, 1992). 24.243 Classical Set Theory (lecture) (Speech). Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
1 2 Kennedy, H. C. (July 1973). "What Russell learned from Peano". Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic. 14 (3). Duke University Press: 367–372. doi: 10.1305/ndjfl/1093891001 . MR 0319684.
↑ "Sets - Elements | Brilliant Math & Science Wiki". brilliant.org. Retrieved 2020-08-10.

v t e Set theory
Overview	Set (mathematics)
Axioms	Adjunction Choice countable dependent global Constructibility (V=L) Determinacy projective Extensionality Infinity Limitation of size Pairing Power set Regularity Union Martin's axiom Axiom schema replacement specification
Operations	Cartesian product Complement (i.e. set difference) De Morgan's laws Disjoint union Identities Intersection Power set Symmetric difference Union
Concepts Methods	Almost Cardinality Cardinal number (large) Class Constructible universe Continuum hypothesis Diagonal argument Element ordered pair tuple Family Forcing One-to-one correspondence Ordinal number Set-builder notation Transfinite induction Venn diagram
Set types	Amorphous Countable Empty Finite (hereditarily) Filter base subbase Ultrafilter Fuzzy Infinite (Dedekind-infinite) Recursive Singleton Subset · Superset Transitive Uncountable Universal
Theories	Alternative Axiomatic Naive Cantor's theorem Zermelo General Principia Mathematica New Foundations Zermelo–Fraenkel von Neumann–Bernays–Gödel Morse–Kelley Kripke–Platek Tarski–Grothendieck
Paradoxes Problems	Russell's paradox Suslin's problem Burali-Forti paradox
Set theorists	Paul Bernays Georg Cantor Paul Cohen Richard Dedekind Abraham Fraenkel Kurt Gödel Thomas Jech John von Neumann Willard Quine Bertrand Russell Thoralf Skolem Ernst Zermelo