Unions and Intersections of Sets - 1510

When I was in school, math was not my favorite subject and I seem to remember very little other than the basics and for anything difficult or unfamiliar I turn to a calculator or the Internet to help me. So far this class (1512) has not thrown anything at me that I wasn't able to figure out without a refresher, until now, that is. This week, I ran into some problems when our section began discussing sets, specifically when it came to unions and intersections of sets. I remember disliking this stuff back in high school and I cringed when I had to start doing it this week.

The chapter that I read did a good job of explaining sets, and what an intersection or a union is, but when I went to work on the homework problems I kept forgetting which was which and would find myself referring back to the book again. I know it sounds silly, but I finally realized something that will hopefully help me remember the difference between the two:

The U is the union and it's like a marriage - everything comes together and becomes one. The intersection is just like a traffic intersection - the roads that each car is on are separate, but the place in the middle where all the roads become ONE is the intersection, and that's the same with the sets. The intersection includes the elements that are in common.

I also found that Venn diagrams are helpful to me in understanding this concept. I am a visual learner and I really found it helpful to look at the idea of a union and an intersection, and it was even more helpful to create a few of my own. Also, the video below was also helpful and I think it would be helpful for a younger student that may not being grasping the concept.

Now that I've gone through this stuff, the unions and intersections of sets aren't as daunting or as confusing to me anymore. I hope that if you had any issues with this concept, this blog has helped you in some way to understand!