RELATIONS

By

Dr. Mugabi Francis (PhD)

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 Ordered pair
 An ordered pair of elements a and b, where a is
designated as the first element and b as the second
element, is denoted by (a, b).
 In particular, (a, b) = (c, d)
if and only if a = c and b = d. Thus (a, b) (b, a) unless
a = b.
This contrasts with sets where the order of elements is
irrelevant; for example, {3, 5} = {5, 3}.
E.g: R denotes the set of real numbers and so R2= R×R is
the set of ordered pairs of real numbers. 2
Product sets
 Consider sets A and B. The set of all ordered pairs
(a, b) where a ∈ A and b ∈ B is called the product, or
Cartesian product, of A and B.
 A short designation of this product is A × B, which is
read “A cross B.”
 By definition, A × B = {(a, b) | a ∈ A and b ∈ B}
 One frequently writes A2 instead of A × A.

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Example
 Let A = {1, 2} and B = {a, b, c}. Then

 A × B = {(1, a), (1, b), (1, c), (2, a), (2, b), (2, c)}

 B × A = {(a, 1), (b, 1), (c, 1), (a, 2), (b, 2), (c, 2)}

 Also, A × A = {(1, 1), (1, 2), (2, 1), (2, 2)}

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Notes
 A×B = B ×A. The Cartesian product deals with ordered
pairs, so naturally the order in which the sets are
considered is important.

 Using n(S) for the number of elements in a set S, we

have:
n(A × B) = 6 = 2(3) = n(A)n(B).

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Notes

 For any sets A1,A2, . . . , An, the set of all ordered n-

tuples (a1, a2, . . . , an) where a1 ∈ A1, a2 ∈ A2, . . . ,
an ∈ An is called the product of the sets A1, . . . , An
and is denoted by A1 × A2 ×・ ・ ・×An or

 Just as we write instead of A × A, so we write
instead of A × A×・ ・ ・×A, where there are n factors
all equal to A.
 For example, R3 = R × R × R denotes the usual three-
dimensional space.
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Exe
1. Given: A = {1, 2}, B = {x, y, z}, and C = {3, 4}. Find:
A × B × C.

2. Find x and y given (2x, x + y) = (6, 2).

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Relations
 Definition: Let A and B be sets. A binary relation or,
simply, relation from A to B is a subset of A × B.

 Suppose R is a relation from A to B. Then R is a set of

ordered pairs where each first element comes from A
and each second element comes from B.

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Relations
 That is, for each pair a ∈ A and b ∈ B, exactly one of
the following is true:

 (i) (a, b) ∈ R; we then say “a is R-related to b”,

written aRb.

 (ii) we then say “a is not R-related to b”,

written

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Relations…
 If R is a relation from a set A to itself, that is, if R is a
subset of A2= A×A, then we say that R is a relation on
A.

 The domain of a relation R is the set of all first

elements of the ordered pairs which belong to R, and
the range is the set of second elements.

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Relations…
 A = (1, 2, 3) and B = {x, y, z}, and let
R = {(1, y), (1, z), (3, y)}.

Then R is a relation from A to B since R is a subset of

A × B. With respect to this relation,
1Ry, 1Rz, 3Ry, but 1Rx, 2Rx, 2Ry, 2Rz, 3Rx, 3Rz

 The domain of R is {1, 3} and the range is {y, z}.

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Inverse relations
 Let R be any relation from a set A to a set B. The inverse
of R, denoted by R−1, is the relation from B to A which
consists of those ordered pairs which, when reversed,
belong to R; that is, R−1 = {(b, a) | (a, b) ∈ R}
 Example: Let A = {1, 2, 3} and B = {x, y, z}. Then the
inverse of R = {(1, y), (1, z), (3, y)} is
 R−1 = {(y, 1), (z, 1), (y, 3)}
 Clearly, if R is any relation, then (R−1)-1 = R.
 Also, the domain and range of R−1 are equal, respectively,
to the range and domain of R. Moreover, if R is a relation
on A, then R−1 is also a relation on A. 12
Pictorial representations of relations
Directed Graphs of Relations on Sets
 There is an important way of picturing a relation R on
a finite set.

 First we write down the elements of the set, and then

we draw an arrow from each element x to each element
y whenever x is related to y.

 This diagram is called the directed graph of the

relation. 13
Pictorial representations of
relations…

 The figure below, shows the directed graph of the

following relation R on the set A = {1, 2, 3, 4}:

 R = {(1, 2), (2, 2), (2, 4), (3, 2), (3, 4), (4, 1), (4, 3)}

 Observe that there is an arrow from 2 to itself, since 2

is related to 2 under R.

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Pictorial representations of
relations…

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Pictures of relations on a finite set
 Suppose A and B are finite sets. There are two ways of
picturing a relation R from A to B.

(i) Form a rectangular array (matrix) whose rows are

labeled by the elements of A and whose columns are
labeled by the elements of B.

Put a 1 or 0 in each position of the array according as a

∈ A is or is not related to b ∈ B.
This array is called the matrix of the relation. 16
Pictures of relations on a finite set…
(ii) Write down the elements of A and the elements of B
in two disjoint disks, and then draw an arrow from
a ∈ A to b ∈ B whenever a is related to b.

 This picture will be called the arrow diagram of the

relation.

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Figures

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Composition of relations
 Let A, B and C be sets, and let R be a relation from A to
B and let S be a relation from B to C.

 That is, R is a subset of A × B and S is a subset of

B × C. Then R and S give rise to a relation from A to C
denoted by R◦S and defined by:

a(R◦S)c if for some b ∈ B we have aRb and bSc.

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Composition of relations

 That is ,
R ◦ S = {(a, c) | there exists b ∈ B for which (a, b) ∈ R and
(b, c) ∈ S}

The relation R◦S is called the composition of R and S; it is

sometimes denoted simply by RS.

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Example
 Let A = {1, 2, 3, 4}, B = {a, b, c, d}, C = {x, y, z} and let
R = {(1, a), (2, d), (3, a), (3, b), (3, d)} and
S = {(b, x), (b, z), (c, y), (d, z)}

 Consider the arrow diagrams of R and S as in Fig. 2-4.

Observe that there is an arrow from 2 to d which is
followed by an arrow from d to z.

 We can view these two arrows as a “path” which

“connects” the element 2 ∈ A to the element z ∈ C. 21
Example…

 Thus: 2(R ◦ S)z since 2Rd and dSz

 Similarly there is a path from 3 to x and a path from 3

to z. Hence, 3(R◦S)x and 3(R◦S)z

 No other element of A is connected to an element of C.

Accordingly,
 R ◦ S = {(2, z), (3, x), (3, z)}
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Example…

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Compositions of relations and
matrices
 There is another way of finding R◦S. Let MR and MS
Denote, respectively the matrix representations of the
relations R and S. Then

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Compositions of relations and
matrices…

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Exe
 Let A = {1, 2, 3},B = {a, b, c}, and C = {x, y, z}. Consider
the following relations R and S from A to B and from B
to C, respectively.

 R = {(1, b), (2, a), (2, c)} and S = {(a, y), (b, x), (c, y), (c, z)}
 (a) Find the composition relation R◦S.

 (b) Find the matrices MR, MS, and MR ◦S of the respective

relations R, S, and R◦S, and compare MR ◦S to the product
MR MS. 26
The End

GOD BLESS YOU!!!

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