If a set has N elements, it has 2N subsets.
{a,b,c,d}
This set has 4 elements, so it has 24 or 16 subsets:
1. { } or ⌀ <-- the empty set
2. {a}
3. {b}
4. {c}
5. {d}
6. {a,b}
7. {a,c}
8. {a,d}
9. {b,c}
10. {b,d}
11. {c,d}
12. {a,b,c}
13. {a,b,d}
14. {a,c,d}
15. {b,c,d}
16. {a,b,c,d} <-- the whole set, which IS considered a subset, but
it is not considered a PROPER subset, like the other 15.
Edwin