Scribd
Upload
45 views

Digraphs and Types of Relations

1. A digraph represents a relation R on a set A by drawing a vertex for each element of A and an edge from vertex a to b if aRb. 2. The in-degree of a vertex is the number of edges terminating at that vertex, and the out-degree is the number of edges leaving that vertex. 3. Relations can be reflexive (aRa for all a), symmetric (aRb implies bRa), or transitive (aRb and bRc imply aRc).

Uploaded by

Karl Fajardo
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
45 views

Digraphs and Types of Relations

1. A digraph represents a relation R on a set A by drawing a vertex for each element of A and an edge from vertex a to b if aRb. 2. The in-degree of a vertex is the number of edges terminating at that vertex, and the out-degree is the number of edges leaving that vertex. 3. Relations can be reflexive (aRa for all a), symmetric (aRb implies bRa), or transitive (aRb and bRc imply aRc).

Uploaded by

Karl Fajardo
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/ 4

Digraphs and types of relations

Prepared by: Ashish Kumar Yadav(07CS3028)

Teacher: Prof. Niloy Ganguly


Department of Computer Science and Engineering
IIT Kharagpur

August 26, 2008


1 The digraph of a relation
If A is a finite set and R a relation on A, we can also represent R pictorially as follows:
Draw a small circle for each element of A and label the circle with the corresponding element
of A. These circles are called the vertices. Draw an arrow, called an edge, from vertex ai to
aj if and only if ai Raj .
The resulting pictorial representation of R is called a directed graph or digraph of R.
Let
A = {1,2,3,4}
R = {(1,1), (1,2), (2,1), (2,2), (2,3), (2,4), (3,4), (4,2)}
Then the digraph is as shown:

1.1 In-degree and Out-degree


If R is a relation on a set A and a ∈ A, then the in-degree of a is the number of b ∈ A such
that (b, a) ∈ R. The out-degree of a is the number of b ∈ A such that (a, b)R.
What this means, in the term of the digraph of R, is that the in-degree of a vertex is the
number of edges terminating at that vertex. The out-degree of a vertex is the number of edges
leaving that vertex.
Consider the digraph shown earlier:

If R is a relation on a set A, and B is a subset of A, the restriction of R to B is R ∩ (BXB).


Let A = {a, b, c, d, e, f }, R = {(a, a), (a, c), (b, c, (a, e), (b, e), (c, e)}andB = {a, b, c}. Then

BXB = {(a, a), (a, b), (a, c), (b, a), (b, b), (b, c), (c, a), (c, b), (c, c)}
and the restriction of R to B is {(a, a), (a, c), (b, c)}.

1
2 Paths in relation
Suppose that R is a relation on a set A. A path of length n in R from a to b is a finite
sequence π : a, x1 , x2 , ....., xn−1 , b, beginning with a and ending b, such that
aRx1 , x1 Rx2 , ......., xn−1 Rb.
A path that begins and ends at the same vertex is called a cycle.
If we have aRb and bRc then there exists a path of length two from a to b and it is represented
by aR2 b.

We have MR2 = MR ⊙ MR
where MR is the matrix for relation R and MR2 for R2 .

We have the following relations:


Rn means a path of length n exists in R
R∞ means there is some path in R.

R∞ = R ∪ R2 ∪ R3 ∪ .......Rn−1
MR∞ = MR ∨ MR2 ∨ MR3 ∨ ........

The reachability relation R∗ of a relation R on a set A that has n elements is defined


as follows: xR∗ y means that x = y or xR∞ y. It is seen that MR∗ = MR∞ ∨ In , where In is
the identity matrix.

3 Types of Relations
3.1 Reflexive and Irreflexive Relations
A relation R on a set A is reflexive if (a, a) ∈ A, that is, if aRa for all a ∈ A. A relation R
on a set A is irreflexive if (a, a) ∈/ R for every a ∈ A.
Examples:
A = {1, 2, 3}, R = {(1, 1), (1, 2)} in this R is neither reflexive nor irreflexive.
A = {}, R = φ in this R is irreflexive.

We can identify a reflexive or irreflexive relation by its matrix as follows. The matrix of
a reflexive relation must have all 1’s on it’s main diagonal, while the matrix of an irreflexive
relation must have all 0’s on its main diagonal.
Similarly, we can characterize the digraph of a reflexive or irreflexive relation as follows. A
reflexive relation has a cycle of length 1 at every vertex, while an irreflexive relation has no
cycles of length 1.

3.2 Symmetric, Asymmetric and Antisymmetric Relations


A relation R on set A is called
Symmetric if whenever aRb then bRa,
Asymmetric if whenever (a, b) ∈ R then (b, a) ∈
/ R,
Antisymmetric if whenever aRb and bRa then a = b.

The matrix MR = [mij ] of a


(a) Symmetric relation satisfies the property that if mij = 1 , then mji = 1.
(b) Asymmetric relation satisfies the property that if mij = 1 , then mji = 0.

2
(c) Antisymmetric relation satisfies the property that if i 6= j , then mij = 0 or mji = 0.

We now consider the digraphs of these three types of relations.


The digraph of a symmetric relation has a property that if there exists an edge from vertex i
to vertex j, then there is an edge from vertex j to vertex i.
If R is an asymmetric relation, then digraph of R cannot simultaneously have an edge from
vertex I to vertex J and an edge from vertex j to vertex i. Thus there can be no cycles of
length 1, and all edges are ”one-way streets”.
If R is an antisymmetric relation, then for different vertices i and j there cannot be edge
from vertex i to vertex j and an edge from vertex j to vertex i. When i = j, no condition is
imposed. Thus there may be cycles of length 1, but again all edges are ”one-way”.

3.3 Transitive Relations


We say that a relation R on a set A is transitive if whenever aRb and bRc, then aRc. It is
often convenient to say what it means for a relation to be not transitive. A relation R on A
is not transitive if there exist a, b, and c in A so that aRb and bRc, but (a, c) ∈
/ R. If such
a, b, and c do not exist, then R is transitive.
Example:
Let A = Z, the set of integers, and let R be the relation less than. To see whether R is
transitive, we assume that aRb and bRc. Thus a < b and b < c. It then follows that a < c, so
aRc. Hence R is transitive.

A relation R is transitive if and only if its matrix MR = [mij ] has the property:
if mij = 1 and mjk = 1, then mik = 1.
In more simple words, if (MR )2⊙ = MR , then R is transitive. The converse is not true.

Example:
Let A = {1, 2, 3} and let R be the relation on A whose matrix is
1 1 1
0 0 1
0 0 1
By direct computation, (MR )2⊙ = MR ; therefore, R is transitive.

How can we identify a transitive relation from its digraph?


For a transitive relation, if a and c are connected by a path of length 2 in R, then they must
be connected by a path of length 1.

You might also like