Proper Subset
A proper subset
of a set
, denoted
, is a subset that is strictly contained in
and so necessarily excludes at least one member of
. The empty set is therefore a proper subset of any nonempty set.
For example, consider a set
{1,2,3,4,5}" src="https://mathworld.wolfram.com/images/equations/ProperSubset/Inline6.svg" style="height:22px; width:106px" />. Then
{1,2,4}" src="https://mathworld.wolfram.com/images/equations/ProperSubset/Inline7.svg" style="height:22px; width:64px" /> and
{1}" src="https://mathworld.wolfram.com/images/equations/ProperSubset/Inline8.svg" style="height:22px; width:22px" /> are proper subsets, while
{1,2,6}" src="https://mathworld.wolfram.com/images/equations/ProperSubset/Inline9.svg" style="height:22px; width:64px" /> and
{1,2,3,4,5}" src="https://mathworld.wolfram.com/images/equations/ProperSubset/Inline10.svg" style="height:22px; width:106px" /> are not.
REFERENCES
Kamke, E. Theory of Sets. New York: Dover, p. 6, 1950.