Course Material

SMT5201-Foundation of Mathematics
Unit II
Relations

Relations: Product set, Relations (Directed graph of relations on set is omitted).

Composition of relations, Types of relations, Partitions, Equivalence relations
with example of congruence modulo relation, Partial ordering relations, n-ary
relations.

If a set A is given explicitly, it is immaterial in which order the elements of A are listed, e.g. the set
{x,y} is the same as the set {y,x}. In many instances, however, one would like, and, indeed, needs,
to have some order in the appearance of the elements. As an example, consider a coordinate plane
with an x-axis and a y-axis; then we can identify any point in the plane by its coordinates <x, y>. If
you wanted to find the point, <a,b>, you would move on the x-axis a units to the right or to the left
from the origin (depending on the sign of a), and then you would move b units up or down. If a and
b are different, then <a,b> and <b,a> denote different points. So, in this example the order in which
the elements appear is relevant.

The decisive property of ordered pairs is that two ordered pairs are equal if the respective
components are the same.

Introduction to Relations

Sometimes it is necessary not to look at the full Cartesian product of two sets A and B, but rather at
a subset of the Cartesian product. This leads to the following Definition. Any subset of A × B is
called a relation between A and B. Any subset of A × A is called a relation on A.

In other words, if A is a set, any set of ordered pairs with components in A is a relation on A. Since
a relation R on A is a subset of A × A, it is an element of the powerset of A × A, i.e. R ⊆ P(A × A).
If R is a relation on A and <x,y> ∈ R, then we also write xRy, read as “x is in R-relation to y”, or
simply, x is in relation to y, if R is understood.
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If x and y are binary related, under the relation R, the we write or

If not the case we write .

1. Example

Then F, L are binary relations.

2.Example Let A and B be any two sets, then any non empty subset R of
is called a binary relation.

Now

then

Let

Then and are binary relations A to B.

Let S be any binary relation. The domain of S is the set of all elements x such
that for some

Similarly, the range of S is the set of all elements y such that, for some
x,

Let

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If then clearly and .

In case of then the relation defined on is called an universal

relation in X.

If then a relation on is called void relation in X.

Since relations are sets, then we can have their union and intersection and so on.

Properties of Binary relations

1. Reflexive

Let R be a binary relation defined on X.

Then R is reflexive if, for every .

Example:

Let

and

are defined on X.

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Then R is reflexive, but S is not reflexive. Since and

2. Symmetric

A relation R from X to Y is symmetric if every and , whenever

then .

That is, if , then R is symmetric

Example:

Let

and

are defined on X.

Then R is symmetric, but S is not symmetric. Since but

3. Transitive

A relation R is transitive if, whenever and then .

That is, if , then R is transitive.

Example:

Let

and

Then R is transitive, but S is not transitive. Since and but

4.Irreflexive

A relation R in a set X is irreflexive if, for every .

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Example:

Let

and

Then R is irreflexive, but S is not reflexive. Since and .

5. Antisymmetric

A relation R in a set X is antisymmetric if, whenever and

then

That is, if , then R is antisymmetric.

Example:

Let

X be the set of all subsets of E.

R be the inclusion relation defined on X.

Therefore R is antisymmetric in X.

6. Relation matrix

Let are ordered sets, R be a relation

defined from X to Y, then the relation matrix of R, is defined as

Example 1:

Let

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be a relation from X to Y. Then

Example 2: Let

be a relation on .

Then

7. Composition of Binary Relations

The concept of composition of relation is different from union and intersection

of two relations.

Definition:

Let R be a relation from X to Y and S be a relation from Y to Z. Then the

composite is a relation from X to Z defined by

The operation in is called “ composition of relations”.

Example.

Let

. Then

Note that

etc.,

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Definition:

The relation matrix for is given by where is defined

as follows.

where ( ) is 1 if and only if row i of

and column j of have a 1 in the same relative position k, for some k.

Example:

Let

. Then

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Definition

Let R be a relation from X to Y. The converse of R, is written as , is a relation

from Y to X such that .

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Example:

If

Also it is clear that

1.
2.
3.

Result: The relation matrix is the transpose of the relation .

Example:

Let

We have

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EQUIVALENCE RELATION

Definition:

A relation R on a set X is called an equivalence relation if it is reflexive,

symmetric, and transitive.

Example 1:

Let

and

is an equivalence relation
on X.

Example 2:

Equality of subsets on a universal set is an equivance relation.

Example 3:

Let

Now, is divisible by 3.

Therefore (reflexive)

For any

Let is divisible by 3 we have is also

divisible by 3.

(symmetric)

Let

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is divisible by 3 and is divisible by 3.

)+ ) is divisible by 3.

is divisible by 3.

Therefore (Transitive)

Therefore R is an equivalence relation on X.

EQUIVALENCE CLASSES

Definition:

Let R be an equivalence relation on a set X. For any the set

given by

is called an R-equivalence class generated by

Therefore, an equivalence class of is the set of all elements which

are related to x by an equivalence relation R on X.

Example:

Let Z be the set of all integers and R be the relation called “congruence modulo
4” defined by

(or )
Now, we determine the equivalence classes generated by R.

Note that

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Therefore

In a similar manner, we get the equivalence classed generated by the relation

“congruence modulo m” for any integer m.

Therefore, an equivalence relation R on X, will divide the set X into an

equivalence classes, and they are called portion of X.

PARTIAL ORDERED RELATION

A relation R on a set X is said to be a partial ordered relation, if R satisfies

reflexive, antisymmetric, and transitive.

Example:

Let be the power set of a set A.

Define a subset relation on , then is a partial ordered relation.

Usually we denote the partial ordered relations as is said to be partially

ordered set (or) poset, which is denoted by . We will study more about
posets in the subsequent sections.

1. Closures of a relation

Let R be a relation on the set X.

2. Reflexive closure

We have the relation R is reflexive if and only if the relation.

is contained in R.

i.e. R is reflexive

Definition:

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Let R be a relation on X, then the smallest reflexive relation on X, containing R,

is called reflexive closure of R.

Therefore is the reflexive closure of R.

3. Symmetric closure

We have, the relation R is symmetric if

Definition:

Let R be a relation X, then smallest symmetric relation on X, containing R, is

called the symmetric closure of R.

Therefore is the symmetric of R.

4. Transitive closure

We have, the relation R is transitive, if then

.

Definition:

A relation is said to be the transitive closure of the relation R on X if is

the smallest transitive relation on X, containing R,

i.e is the transitive closure of R, if

I.
II. is transitive on X
III. There is no transitive relation on X, such that

Remarks:

1. The transitive closure of R can be obtained by

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2. We know that if and only if there is an element y such that

and .

Therefore if and only if we can find a sequence

in X such that are all in R.

The sequence is said to be a chain of length n from a to

b in R. Here are called interval vertices of the chain in R.
Note that the interval vertices need not be distinct.

PROBLEMS

1. If ,

Find (i) (ii) domains of and (iii) ranges

of .

Solution:

Domain of

Domain of

Domain of

Range of

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Range of

Range of

It is clear that

and

In general and .

2.Let and

. Find and

Solution:

Given that and

Remarks:

3.Let and , where . Find

the range of S and T, find and

Solution:

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and

(Now and

4. Given an example which is neither reflexive nor irreflexive?

Solution:

Let and

Then R is not reflexive, since , for and R is not irreflexive, since

, and .

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5. Test whether the following relations are transitive or not on

Solution: The relation R and T are transitive.

Since, in R, we have , then check any other pair starting with ,

then we must have i.e., but there is no pair staring
with 1. So, pass on to next pair then we check any other pair starting with 2,
and so on.

In T, we have , then there are two pairs and must be the

transitive of , then we must have and in T. Then pass to
the transitive pairs are and then we must have the pairs
in T.

Then pass to , find the transitive pairs of and so on, for all pairs in
T. Hence T is a transitive relation.

The relation S is not transitive, since for , the transitive pairs are and
then we must and in S but .

6. Let R denotes a relation on the set of pairs of positive integers such that
if and only if . Show that R is an equivalence relations.

Solution:

Let

Now R is a relation defined on P as

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for

Let and

I. R is reflexive:
We have
(RHS) is true.

II. R is symmetric:
Let

III. R is transitive:
Let and
and

and

Therefore R is reflexive, symmetric , and transitive.

Hence R is an equivalence relation.

7. Let R and S are equivalence relations on X, show that also equivalent?

Whether is also an equivalent relation. If not given an example.

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Solution:

Given let R and S are equivalence relations on X.

Let and

(i) We have and

Therefore is reflexive.
(ii) Let and
and

Therefore is symmetric.
(iii) Let and
and and and
and and and
and

Therefore is transitive.

Hence is equivalence.

8. Prove that the relation “congruence modulo m” over the set of positive integers
is an equivalence relation?

Show also that if and then .

Solution:

Let N be the set of all positive integers we have “congruence modulo m” relation
on N as for

Let

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(i) We have

Therefore for
“Congruence modulo m” is reflexive.
(ii) Let

, for some integer

, for some integer

“congruence modulo m” is symmetric on N.

(iii) Let
and
, and for some integer

for some integer

“Congruence modulo m” is transitive on N.

Hence “congruence modulo m” is an equivalence relation.

Let and .

Then and

i.e., and

Now

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9. Let

and

be a relation defined on A. Find the transitive

closure of R?

Solution:

The matrix of the relation R is given by

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Hence

ASSIGNMENT PROBLEMS

Part -A

1. If and
be any relations on . Find

.
2. Give an example for reflexive, symmetric, transitive and irreflexive
relations.
3. Give an example of a relation which is neither reflexive nor irreflexive.
4. Give an example of a relation which is neither symmetric not
antisymmetric?
5. Find the graph of the relation

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6. Find the relation matrix of

7. If and
. Find , , , ,
and
8. Define equivalence relation and equivalence classes?
9. Define Poset?
10. Define reflexive closure?
11. Define transitive closure of the relation R?
12. Let be a relation .
Identify the root of the tree of R.
13. Determine whether the relation R is a partial ordered on the set Z, where Z
is set of positive integer, and aRb if and only if a=2b.
14. The following relations are on . Let R be a relation, xRy if and only
if , and let S be a relation, xSy if and only if . Find
and
15. True or False: The relation on is not a partial order since it is not
reflexive.

Part B

1. Show that the intersection of equivalence relations is an equivalence

relation.
2. Determine whether the relations represented by the following zero-one
matrices are equivalence relations.

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3. If R and S are symmetric, show that and are symmetric.

4. Let L be set of all straight lines in the Euclidean plane and R be the relation
in L defined by is perpendicular to Is R is Reflexive?
Symmetric? Antisymmetric? Transive?
5. Consider the subsets , and where
is an universal set. List the non empty minsets generated
by A,B and C . Do they form a partition on E?
6. Let and be a
relation on X. Show that R is an equivalent relation and find the partition of
X induced by R.
7. If R is an equivalence relation on an arbitrary set A. Prove that the set of all
equivalence classes constitute a partition on A.
8. Given the relation matrix and . Explain how to find , and

9. Let A be s set of books. Let R be a relation on A such that if ‘

book a’ with cost more and contains fever pages then ‘ book b’. In general,
is R reflexive? Symmetric? Antisymmetric? Transitive?
10. Let R be a binary relation on the set of all positive integers such that
Is R reflexive? Symmetric? Antisymmetric?
Transitive? An equivalence relation?

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