Scribd
Upload
980 views3 pages

Composition of Relations

The composition of binary relations is a concept in mathematics where a new relation S ∘ R is formed from two given relations R and S. S ∘ R relates x and z if there exists a y such that x is related to y by R and y is related to z by S. Composition of relations is associative and the composition of functions is a special case of composing relations. The set of binary relations on a set forms a monoid under composition where the identity is the identity relation.

Uploaded by

Milind Chakraborty
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
980 views3 pages

Composition of Relations

The composition of binary relations is a concept in mathematics where a new relation S ∘ R is formed from two given relations R and S. S ∘ R relates x and z if there exists a y such that x is related to y by R and y is related to z by S. Composition of relations is associative and the composition of functions is a special case of composing relations. The set of binary relations on a set forms a monoid under composition where the identity is the identity relation.

Uploaded by

Milind Chakraborty
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

13/09/2016 CompositionofrelationsWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

CompositionofrelationsWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Inmathematics,thecompositionofbinaryrelationsisaconceptofforminganewrelationSRfromtwogiven
relationsRandS,havingasitsbestknownspecialcasethecompositionoffunctions.

Definition[edit]

If

and

aretwobinaryrelations,thentheircomposition

istherelation

Inotherwords,

isdefinedbytherulethatsays

ifandonlyifthereisanelement

suchthat

(i.e.

and

).

Inparticularfields,authorsmightdenotebyRSwhatisdefinedheretobeSR.Theconventionchosenhere
issuchthatfunctioncomposition(withtheusualnotation)isobtainedasaspecialcase,whenRandSare
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composition_of_relations 1/3
13/09/2016 CompositionofrelationsWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

functionalrelations.Someauthors[1]prefertowrite

and

explicitlywhennecessary,dependingwhethertheleftortherightrelationisthefirstoneapplied.

AfurthervariationencounteredincomputerscienceistheZnotation:

isusedtodenotethetraditional(right)composition,but(afatopensemicolonwithUnicodecodepoint
U+2A3E)denotesleftcomposition.[2][3]Thisuseofsemicoloncoincideswiththenotationforfunction
compositionused(mostlybycomputerscientists)inCategorytheory,[4]aswellasthenotationfordynamic
conjunctionwithinlinguisticdynamicsemantics.[5]Thesemicolonnotation(withthissemantic)wasintroduced
byErnstSchrderin1895.[6]

Thebinaryrelations

aresometimesregardedasthemorphisms

inacategoryRelwhichhasthesetsasobjects.InRel,compositionofmorphismsisexactlycompositionof
relationsasdefinedabove.ThecategorySetofsetsisasubcategoryofRelthathasthesameobjectsbut
fewermorphisms.Ageneralizationofthisisfoundinthetheoryofallegories.

Properties[edit]

Compositionofrelationsisassociative.

TheinverserelationofSRis(SR)1=R1S1.Thispropertymakesthesetofallbinaryrelationsonaset
asemigroupwithinvolution.

Thecompositionof(partial)functions(i.e.functionalrelations)isagaina(partial)function.

IfRandSareinjective,thenSRisinjective,whichconverselyimpliesonlytheinjectivityofR.

IfRandSaresurjective,thenSRissurjective,whichconverselyimpliesonlythesurjectivityofS.

ThesetofbinaryrelationsonasetX(i.e.relationsfromXtoX)togetherwith(leftorright)relationcomposition
formsamonoidwithzero,wheretheidentitymaponXistheneutralelement,andtheemptysetisthezero
element.

Otherformsofcompositionofrelations,whichapplytogeneralnplacerelationsinsteadofbinaryrelations,are
foundinthejoinoperationofrelationalalgebra.Theusualcompositionoftwobinaryrelationsasdefinedhere

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composition_of_relations 2/3
13/09/2016 CompositionofrelationsWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

canbeobtainedbytakingtheirjoin,leadingtoaternaryrelation,followedbyaprojectionthatremovesthe
middlecomponent.

Compositionintermsofmatrices[edit]

If

isarelationbetweentwofinitesetsthenoneobtainsanassociatedadjacencymatrix

(seehere).Thenif

and

aretworelationswhichcanbecomposed,thematrix

isexactlythematrixproduct

,whereitisunderstoodthat

.(Notealsothereversaloforderof

and

.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composition_of_relations 3/3

You might also like