<P> In mathematics, a set is a well - defined collection of distinct objects, considered as an object in its own right . For example, the numbers 2, 4, and 6 are distinct objects when considered separately, but when they are considered collectively they form a single set of size three, written (2, 4, 6). Sets are one of the most fundamental concepts in mathematics . Developed at the end of the 19th century, set theory is now a ubiquitous part of mathematics, and can be used as a foundation from which nearly all of mathematics can be derived . In mathematics education, elementary topics such as Venn diagrams are taught at a young age, while more advanced concepts are taught as part of a university degree . The German word Menge, rendered as "set" in English, was coined by Bernard Bolzano in his work The Paradoxes of the Infinite . </P> <P> A set is a well - defined collection of distinct objects . The objects that make up a set (also known as the elements or members of a set) can be anything: numbers, people, letters of the alphabet, other sets, and so on . Georg Cantor, the founder of set theory, gave the following definition of a set at the beginning of his Beiträge zur Begründung der transfiniten Mengenlehre: </P> <P> A set is a gathering together into a whole of definite, distinct objects of our perception (Anschauung) or of our thought--which are called elements of the set . </P>

An object that belongs to a set. sometimes the word member is used
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