Batangas State University

The National Engineering University

Pablo Borbon Campus
BSN – FIRST YEAR

MATHEMATICS IN THE MODERN WORLD

MODULE 2
MATHEMATICAL LANGUAGE AND SYMBOLS
LESSON 2.2 : Four Basic Concepts

I. FUNCTIONS AND RELATIONS

A. THE LANGUAGE OF RELATIONS AND FUNCTIONS

How are we going to relate the word relation in Mathematics? The objects of mathematics may be related
in various ways. A set “A” may be said to be related to a set “B” if A is a subset of B, or if A is not a subset of
B, or if A and B have at least one element in common. A number x may be said to be related to a number y if
x < y, or if x is a factor of y, or if x2 + y2 = 1.
To be able to understand better what a relation is all about more specifically if we talked about relation in
mathematics, let us have a simple illustration.
Let A = {1,2,3} and B = {2, 3, 4} and let us say that an element x in A is related to an element y in B if and
only if, x is less than y and let us use the notation x R y as translated mathematical term for the sentence “x
is related to y. Then, it follows that:
1 R 2 since 1 < 2
1 R 3 since 1 < 3
1 R 4 since 1 < 4
2 R 3 since 2 < 3
2 R 4 since 2 < 4
3 R 4 since 3 < 4
Now, can we say that 1 R 1? Is 3 R 2?

Recall the Cartesian product. What are the elements of A x B? It is clearly stated A x B = { (1,2), (1,3), (1,4),
(2,2), (2,3), (2,4), (3,2), (3,3), (3,4)}. Here, the elements of some ordered pairs in A x B are related, whereas
the element of other ordered pairs are not.

What are the elements (ordered pair) in A x B, based on the given conditions, that are related? Perhaps
your answer would be: { (1,2), (1,3), (1,4), (2,3), (2,4), (3,4)}
Observe that knowing which ordered pairs lie in this set is equivalent to knowing which elements are
related to which. The relation can be therefore be thought of the totality of ordered pairs whose elements
are related by the given condition. The formal mathematical definition of relation, based on this idea, was
introduced by the American mathematicians and logician C.S. Peirce in the nineteenth century.

What is a relation?

1. A relation from set X to Y is the set of ordered pairs of real numbers (x, y) such that to each element x of
the set X there corresponds at least one element of the set Y.
2. Let A and B sets. A relation R from A to B is a subset of A x B. Given an ordered pair (x, y) in A x B, x is related
to y by R, written x R y, if and only if, (x, y) is in R. The set A is called the domain of R and the set B is called its
co-domain.

Notation:
The notation for a relation R may be written symbolically as follows:
 x R y meaning (x, y)  R.

The notation x R y means that x is not related to y by R;

x R y meaning (x, y)  R.

Example:
1. Given a set of an ordered pairs: {(0, -5), (1, -4), (2, -3), (3, -2), (4, -1), (5, 0)}

The domain are x = {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5}

The co-domain are y = {-5, -4, -3, -2, -1, 0}

2. Let A = {1,2} and B = {1,2,3} and define a relation R from A to B as follows: Given any (x,y)  A x B,
𝑥−𝑦
(x,y)  R means that is an integer;
2

a. State explicitly which ordered pairs are in A x B and which are in R.

b. Is 1 R 3? Is 2 R 3? Is 2 R 2?
c. What are the domain and the co-domain of R?

Solution:
a. A x B = {(1,1), (1,2), (1,3), (2,1), (2,2),(2,3). To determine explicitly the composition of R, examine each
ordered pair in A x B to see whether its element satisfy the defining condition for R.

1−1 0
(1,1) R because = 2 = 0, which is an integer.
2

1−2 −1
(1,2)  R because = , which is not an integer.
2 2

1−3 −2
(1,3) R because = = −1, which is an integer.
2 2

2−1 1
(2,1) R because = 2 , which is not an integer
2

2−2 0
(2,2) R because = 2 = 0, which is an integer.
2

2 −3 −1
(2,3) R because = , which is not an integer.
2 2

Thus, R = {(1,1), (1,3), (2,2)}

b. Yes! 1 R 3 because (1,3)  R

No! 2 R 3 because (2,3)  R.
Yes! 2 R 2 because (2,2)  R.

c. The domain of R is {1,2} and the co-domain is {1,2,3}

B. ARROW DIAGRAM OF A RELATION

Suppose R is a relation from a set A to a set B. The arrow diagram for R is obtained as follows:

1. Represent the elements of A as a points in one region and the elements of B as points in another region.
2. For each x in A and y in B, draw an arrow from x to y, and only if, x is related to y by R. Symbolically:

Draw an arrow from x to y

If and only if, x R y
If and only if, (x, y)  R.
2. What is the domain and co-domain of an example 1?

The domain are as follows: {0, 1, 2, 3}

The co-domain are as follows: {-2, 1, 2, 4}

C. PROPERTIES OF A RELATION

When a relation R is defined from a set A into the same set A, the three properties are very useful such as reflexive,
symmetric and the transitive.

A. Reflexive
A relation R on A is said to be reflexive if every element of A is related to itself. In notation, a R a for all a  A.
 Examples of reflexive relations include:
_ "is equal to" (equality)
_ "is a subset of" (set inclusion)
_ "is less than or equal to" and "is greater than or equal to" (inequality)
_ "divides" (divisibility).

An example of a non-reflexive relation is the relation "is the father of" on a set of people since no person is the
father of themselves. When looking at an arrow diagram, a relation is reflexive if every element of A has an
arrow pointing to itself. For example, the relation in a given figure below is a reflexive relation.

B. Symmetric
A relation R on A is symmetric if given a R b then b R a.

For example, "is married to" is a symmetric relation, while, "is less than" is not. The relation "is the sister of" is
not symmetric on a set that contains a brother and sister but would be symmetric on a set of females. The arrow
diagram of a symmetric relation has the property that whenever there is a directed arrow from a to b, there is
also a directed arrow from b to a.

C. Transitive
A relation R on A is transitive if given a R b and b R c then a R c.

The arrow diagram of a transitive relation has the property that whenever there are directed arrows from a to b
and from b to c then there is also a directed arrow from a to c:

A relation that is refexive, symmetric, and transitive is called an equivalence relation on A.

Examples of equivalence relations include:

_ The equality ("=") relation between real numbers or sets.

_ The relation "is similar to" on the set of all triangles.
_ The relation "has the same birthday as" on the set of all human beings.

On the other hand, the relation "  " is not an equivalence relation on the set of all subsets of a set A since this
relation is not symmetric.

D. WHAT IS A FUNCTION?

A function is a relation in which every input is paired with exactly one output.
 A function from set X to Y is the set of ordered pairs of real numbers (x, y) in which no two distinct ordered pairs
have the same first component. Similar to a relation, the values of x is called the domain of the function and the
set of all resulting value of y is called the range or co-domain of the function.

A function F from a set A to a set B is a relation with domain and co-domain B that satisfies the following two
properties:

1. For every element x in A, there is an element y in B such that (x,y) F.

2. For all elements x in A and y and z in B, If (x,y)  F and (x,z) F, then y = z

These two properties; (1) and (2) can be stated less formally as follows:

1. Every element of A is the first element of an ordered pair of F.

2. No two distinct ordered pairs in F have the same first element.

• Is a function a relation? Focus on the x-coordinates, when given a relation.

• If the set of ordered pairs have different x-coordinates, it is a function.
• If the set of ordered pairs have same x-coordinates, it is NOT a function but it could be said a relation.

Note:
a) Y-coordinates have no bearing in determining functions
b) Function is a relation but relation could not be said as function.

Example 1: Determine if the following is a function or not a function.

1. {(0, -5), (1, -4), (2, -3), (3, -2), (4, -1), (5, 0)}
2. {(-1, -7), (1, 0), (2, -3), (0, -8), (0, 5), (-2, -1)}
3. 2x + 3y – 1 = 0
4. x2 + y2 = 1
5. y2 = x + 1

Example 2. Which of the following mapping represent a function?

1.
2.
3 1
1 1
0 2
2 2
1 3
3 3
4 0

Function Notations:

The symbol f(x) means function of x and it is read as “f of x.” Thus, the equation y = 2x + 1 could be written in a
form of f(x) = 2x + 1 meaning y = f(x). It can be stated that y is a function of x.
Let us say we have a function in a form of f(x) = 3x – 1. If we replace x = 1, this could be written as f(1) = 3(1) – 1.
The notation f(1) only means that we substitute the value of x = 1 resulting the function value. Thus

f(x) = 3x – 1; let x = 1
f(1) = 3(1) – 1 = 3 – 1 = 2.

Another illustration is given a function g(x) = x2 – 3 and let x = -2, then g(-2) = (-2)2 – 3 = 1

Operations on Functions

The following are definitions on the operations on functions.

a. The sum or difference of f and g, denoted by f ± g is the function defined by (f ± g)(x) = f(x) ± g(x).

b. The product of f and g, denoted by f · g is the function defined by (f·g)(x) = f(x)·g(x).

c. The quotient of f and g denoted by f/g is the function defined by f(x)/g(x), where g(x) is not equal to zero.
 d. The composite function of f and g denoted by f ο g is the function defined by (f ο g)(x) = f(g(x)). Similarly,
the composite function of g by f, denoted by g ο f, is the function defined by ( g ο f)(x) = g(f(x)).

Examples:
1. If f(x) = 2x + 1 and g(x) = 3x + 2, what is (f+g)(x)?

Solution:

(f+g)(x) = f(x) + g(x)

= (2x + 1) + (3x + 2)
= 2x + 3x + 1 + 2
= 5x + 3

2. What is (f • g)(x) if f(x) = 2x + 1 and g(x) = 3x + 2?

Solution:

(f • g)(x) = f(x) • g(x)

= (2x + 1)(3x + 2)
= 6x2 + 7x + 2

𝑓
3. What is ( 𝑔 ) (𝑥) if f(x) = 2a + 6b and g(x) = a + 3b?

Solution:

𝑓 𝑓(𝑥) 2𝑎+6𝑏 2(𝑎+3𝑏)

( ) (𝑥) = = = =2
𝑔 𝑔(𝑥) 𝑎+3𝑏 𝑎+3𝑏

4. If f(x) = 2x + 1 and g(x) = 3x + 2, what is (g  f)(x)?

Solution:

(g  f)(x) = g(f(x))
= g(2x + 1)
= 3(2x + 1) + 2
= 6x + 3 + 2
= 6x + 5