Lecture #2

RELATIONS
Agenda

 Introduction
 Product Sets
 Relations
 Representation of Relations
 Representation of Relations on Finite Sets
 Directed Graphs of Relations on Sets
 Composition of Relations
 Composition of Relations on Matrices
 Types of Relations
 Closure Properties
 Equivalence Relations
 Partial Ordering Relations
 n-Ary relations
Introduction

 Relationships between elements of sets occur in many contexts

e.g.
 business and its telephone number
 an employee and his or her salary
 a person and a relative
 Mathematical Relations e.g.
 a positive integer and one that it divides
 a real number and one that is larger than it
Introduction

 Relationships between elements of sets are represented

 using the structure called a relation
 which is just a subset of the Cartesian product of the sets
 Relations can be used to solve problems such as
 Determining which pairs of cities are linked by airline flights in a
network,
 Finding a viable order for the different phases of a complicated
project
 Producing a useful way to store information in computer databases
Product Sets

 Definition
 Let A and B be sets. A binary relation from A to B is a subset of A ×
B.
 Consider two arbitrary 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}
Relations

 A binary relation from A to B is a set R of ordered pairs where

 the first element of each ordered pair comes from A and
 the second element comes from B.
 We use the notation aRb to denote that
 (a,b) ∈ R and
 aRb to denote that (a,b)∉R.
 Moreover, when (a,b) belongs to R, a is said to be related to b by
R.
Relations

 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)}
 A2 = A × A = {(1, 1), (1, 2), (2, 1), (2, 2)}
 There are two things worth noting in the above examples.
 First of all A×B = B ×A. The Cartesian product deals with ordered pairs, so
naturally the order in which the sets are considered is important.
 Secondly, using n(S) for the number of elements in a set S, we have:
 n(A × B) = 6 = 2(3) = n(A) x n(B)
 there are n(A) possibilities for a, and for each of these there are n(B)
possibilities for b.
Relations

 The domain of a relation R is the set of all first elements of the

ordered pairs which belong to R,
 A × B = {(1, a), (1, b), (1, c), (2, a), (2, b), (2, c)}
 {1,2}
 the range is the set of second elements.
 A × B = {(1, a), (1, b), (1, c), (2, a), (2, b), (2, c)}
 {a,b,c}
Relations

 The idea of a product of sets can be extended to any finite

number of sets.
 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
Relations

 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}
 For 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)}
 If R is any relation, then (R−1)−1 = R.
 Domain and range of R−1 are equal, respectively, to the range and domain of
R.
 If R is a relation on A, then R−1 is also a relation on A.
Representing a Relation

 Rectangular Array or Matrix Representation

 Form a rectangular array (matrix) whose
 Rows are labeled by the elements of A
 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.
Representing a Relation

 Matrix Representation Example

 Let A = {0, 1, 2} and B = {a, b}.
 Then {(0, a), (0, b), (1, a), (2, b)} is a relation from A to B.
 This means, for instance, that 0Ra, but that 1R b.
Representing a Relation

 Write down the elements of A and the elements of B in two

disjoint disks
 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
Representing a Relation

 Matrix Representation Example

 Let A = {0, 1, 2} and B = {a, b}.
 Then {(0, a), (0, b), (1, a), (2, b)} is a relation from A to B.
 This means, for instance, that 0Ra, but that 1R b.
Representing a Relation

 Directed Graphs of Relations on Sets

 First we write down the elements of the set
 Then we draw an arrow from each element x to
each element y whenever x is related to y.
 Let t A = {1, 2, 3, 4}.
 Then relation R on the set A be
 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.
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
 R ◦ S = {(a, c)| there exists b ∈ B for which (a, b) ∈ R and (b, c)
∈ S}
Composition of Relations

 The composite of R and S is the relation consisting of ordered

pairs (a, c), where a∈A, c∈C, and for which there exists an
element b ∈ B such that (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
 Suppose R is a relation on a set A, that is, R is a relation from a
set A to itself.
 Then R◦R, the composition of R with itself, is always defined.
 Also, R◦R is sometimes denoted by R2.
 Similarly, R3 = R2◦R = R◦R◦R, and so on. Thus Rn is defined for all
positive n.
Composition of Relations

 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)}
Composition of Relations

 Observe that there is

 An arrow from 2 to d
 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.
 Thus: 2(R ◦ S)z since 2Rd and dSz.
Composition of Relations and
Matrices
 If S consists of ordered pairs , then the ordered pairs satisfy some
given equation
E(x, y) = 0
 Let MR and MS denote respectively the matrix representations of
the relations R and S. Then
Composition of Relations and
Matrices
 Multiplying MR and MS we obtain the matrix

 The nonzero entries in this matrix tell us which elements are

related by R◦S. Thus M = MRMS and MR◦S have the same
nonzero entries.
Types or Types of Relations

 Reflexive Relations
 Irreflexive Relations
 Symmetric Relations
 Asymmetric Relations
 Antisymmetric Relations
 Transitive Relations
Reflexive Relation

 A reflexive relation is a binary relation on a set for which every

element is related to itself.
 relation R on a set A is called reflexive
 If (a, a) ∈ R for every element a ∈ A.
 A relation R on a set A is called reflexive
 If there exists an a ∈ A for which (a, a) ∉ R
Reflexive Relation

 Example
 Consider the following five relations on the set A = {1, 2, 3, 4}:
 R1 = {(1, 1), (1, 2), (2, 3), (1, 3), (4, 4)}
 R2 = {(1, 1)(1, 2), (2, 1), (2, 2), (3, 3), (4, 4)}
 R3 = {(1, 3), (2, 1)}
 R4 = ∅, the empty relation
 R5 = A × A, the universal relation
 Since A contains the four elements 1, 2, 3, and 4,
 A relation R on A is reflexive if it contains the four pairs (1, 1), (2, 2), (3, 3),
and (4, 4).
 Thus only R2 and the universal relation R5 = A × A are reflexive.
 Note that R1, R3, and R4 are not reflexive since, for example, (2, 2) does not
belong to any of them.
Ir-reflexive or Anti-Reflexive

 A relation that is irreflexive, or anti-reflexive, is a binary relation

on a set where no element is related to itself.
 A relation R on a set A is called irreflexive
 If (a, a) ∉ R for every element a ∈ A.
 A relation R on a set A is not irreflexive
 If there exists an at least one a ∈ A for which (a,a) ∈ R
Symmetric Relation

 A relation R on a set A is symmetric if whenever aRb then bRa,

that is,
 if whenever (a, b) ∈ R then (b, a) ∈ R.
 R is not symmetric
 if there exists a, b ∈ A such that (a, b) ∈ R but (b, a) ∉ R.
Anti Symmetric Relation

 A relation R on a set A is antisymmetric

 if whenever aRb and bRa then a = b, that is,
 if a ≠ b and aRb then bRa.
 R is not antisymmetric
 if there exist distinct elements a and b in A such that aRb and bRa.
Asymmetric Relation

 Let R be a relation on A. Then R is called asymmetric if (x,y)∈R

always implies (y,x)∉R:
 R is asymmetric: ∀x∈A ∀y∈A ∈ R (y,x) ∉R.
Transitive Relation

 A relation R on a set A is transitive

 if whenever aRb and bRc then aRc, that is,
 if whenever (a, b), (b, c) ∈ R then (a, c) ∈ R.
 Thus R is not transitive if there exist a, b, c ∈ R such that
 (a, b), (b, c) ∈ R but (a, c) ∉ R.