SOME BASIC DEFINITIONS 2

ORDER RELATIONS, LATTICES, BOOLEAN ALGEBRAS

Order Relation R ⊂ A × A is an order on A iff R is 1.Reflexive, 2. Antisymmetric, 3. Transitive, i.e.

1. ∀a ∈ A (a, a) ∈ R
2. ∀a, b ∈ A ((a, b) ∈ R ∩ (b, a) ∈ R ⇒ a = b)
3. ∀a, b, c ∈ A ((a, b) ∈ R ∩ (b, c) ∈ R ⇒ (a, c) ∈ R)
Total Order R ⊂ (A×A) is a total order on A iff R is an order and any two elements of A are comparable,
i.e.
∀a, b ∈ A ((a, b) ∈ R ∪ (b, a) ∈ R).
Historical names Order is also called partial order and total order is also called a linear order.
Notations Order relations are usually denoted by ≤. We use, in our lecture notes the notation ≤ .
Our book, and hence this handout uses the notation ¹ as a symbol for order relation.
Remember, that even if we use ≤ as the order relation symbol, it is a SYMBOL for ANY order relation
and not only a symbol for a natural order ≤ in number sets.
Poset A set A 6= ∅ ordered by a relation R is called a poset. We write it as a tuple: (A, R), (A, ≤),
(A, ¹) or (A, ≤ ). Name poset stands for ”partially ordered set”.
Diagram Diagram or Hasse Diagram of order relation is a graphical representation of a poset. It is a
simplified graph constructed as follows.
1. As the relation is REFLEXIVE, i.e. (a, a) ∈ R for all a ∈ A, we draw a point a instead of a point a with
the loop.
2. As the relation is antisymmetric we draw a point b above point a (connected, but without the arrow) to
indicate that (a, b) ∈ R.
3. As the relation in transitive, we connect points a, b, c without arrows.

Special elements in a poset (A, ¹) (book notation) are: maximal, minimal, greatest (largest) and
smallest (least) and are defined below.
Smallest (least) a0 ∈ A is a smallest (least) element in the poset (A, ¹) iff ∀a ∈ A (a0 ¹ a).
Greatest (largest) a0 ∈ A is a greatest (largest) element in the poset (A, ¹) iff ∀a ∈ A (a ¹ a0 ).
Maximal (formal) a0 ∈ A is a maximal element in the poset (A, ¹) iff ¬ ∃a ∈ A (a0 ¹ a ∩ a0 6= a).
Maximal (informal) a0 ∈ A is a maximal element in the poset (A, ¹) iff on the diagram of (A, ¹)
there is no element placed above a0 .
Minimal a0 ∈ A is a minimal element in the poset (A, ¹) iff ¬ ∃a ∈ A (a ¹ a0 ∩ a0 6= a).
Minimal (informal) a0 ∈ A is a minimal element in the poset (A, ¹) iff on the diagram of (A, ¹)
there is no element placed below a0 .
Lower Bound Let B ⊆ A and (A, ¹) is a poset. a0 ∈ A is a lower bound of a set B iff ∀b ∈ B (a0 ¹ b).
Upper Bound Let B ⊆ A and (A, ¹) is a poset. a0 ∈ A is an upper bound of a set B iff ∀b ∈ B (b ¹ a0 ).

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Least upper bound of B (lub B) Given: a set B ⊆ A and (A, ¹) a poset. x0 = lubB iff x0 is (if
exists) the least (smallest) element in the set of all upper bounds of B, ordered by the poset order ¹.
Greatest lower bound of B (glb B) Given: a set B ⊆ A and (A, ¹) a poset. x0 = glbB iff x0 is (if
exists) the greatest element in the set of all lower bounds of B, ordered by the poset order ¹.
Lattice A poset (A, ¹) is a lattice iff For all a, b ∈ A both lub{a, b} and glb{a, b} exist.
Lattice notation Observe that by definition elements lubB and glbB are always unique (if they exist).
For B = {a, b} we denote:
lub{a, b} = a ∪ b and glb{a, b} = a ∩ b.
Lattice union (meet) The element lub{a, b} = a ∪ b is called a lattice union (meet) of a and b. By lattice
definition for any a, b ∈ A a ∪ b always exists.
Lattice intersection (joint) The element glb{a, b} = a ∩ b is called a lattice intersection (joint) of a and
b. By lattice definition for any a, b ∈ A a ∩ b always exists.
Lattice as an Algebra An algebra (A, ∪, ∩), where ∪, ∩ are two argument operations on A is called a
lattice iff the following conditions hold for any a, b, c ∈ A (they are called lattice AXIOMS):
l1 a ∪ b = b ∪ a and a ∩ b = b ∩ a
l2 (a ∪ b) ∪ c = a ∪ (b ∪ c) and$(a ∩ b) ∩ c = a ∩ (b ∩ c)
l3 a ∩ (a ∪ b) = a and a ∪ (a ∩ b) = a.

Lattice axioms The conditions l1- l3 from above definition are called lattice axioms.
Lattice orderings Let the (A, ∪, ∩) be a lattice. The relations:
a ¹ b iff a ∪ b = b, a ¹ b iff a ∩ b = a
are order relations in A and are called a lattice orderings.
Distributive lattice A lattice (A, ∪, ∩) is called a distributive lattice iff for all a, b, c ∈ A the following
conditions hold
l4 a ∪ (b ∩ c) = (a ∪ b) ∩ (a ∪ c)
l5 a ∩ (b ∪ c) = (a ∩ b) ∪ (a ∩ c).
Distributive lattice axioms Conditions l1- l5 from above are called a distributive lattice axioms.
¯
Lattice special elements The greatest element in a lattice (if exists) is denoted by 1 and is called a
lattice UNIT. The least (smallest) element in A (if exists)is denoted by 0 and called a lattice zero.

Lattice with unit and zero If 0 (lattice zero) and 1 (lattice unit) exist in a lattice, we will write the
lattice as: (A, ∪, ∩, 0, 1) and call is a lattice with zero and unit.
Lattice Unit Axioms Let (A, ∪, ∩) be a lattice. An element x ∈ A is called a lattice unit iff for any
a ∈ A x ∩ a = a and x ∪ a = x.
If such element x exists we denote it by 1 and we write the unit axioms as follows.
l6 1∩a=a
l7 1 ∪ a = 1.
Lattice Zero Axioms Let (A, ∪, ∩) be a lattice. An element x ∈ A is called a lattice zero iff for any
a ∈ A x ∩ a = x and x ∪ a = a.
We denote the lattice zero by 0 and write the zero axioms as follows.

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 l8 0∩a=0
l9 0 ∪ a = a.
Complement Let (A, ∪, ∩, 1.0) be a lattice with unit and zero. An element x ∈ A is called a complement
of an element a ∈ A iff a ∪ x = 1 and a ∩ x = 0.
Complement axioms Let (A, ∪, ∩, 1.0) be a lattice with unit and zero. The complement of a ∈ A is usu-
ally denoted by −a and the above conditions that define the complementabove are called complement
axioms. The complement axioms are usually written as follows.
c1 a ∪ −a = 1
c2 a ∩ −a = 0.
Boolean Algebra A distributive lattice with zero and unit such that each element has a complement is
called a Boolean Algebra.
Boolean Algebra Axioms A lattice (A, ∪, ∩, 1.0) is called a Boolean Algebra iff the operations ∩, ∪
satisfy axioms l1 -l5, 0 ∈ Aand 1 ∈ A satisfy axioms l6 - l9 and each element a ∈ A has a complement
−a ∈ A, i.e.
l1o ∀a ∈ A ∃ − a ∈ A ((a ∪ −a = 1) ∩ (a ∩ −a = 0)).

SOME BASIC FACTS

Uniqueness In any poset (A, ¹), if a greatest and a least elements exist, then they are unique.
Finite Posets If (A, ¹) is a finite poset (i.e. A is a finite set), then a unique maximal (if exists) is the
largest element and a unique minimal (if exists) is the least element.
Infinite Posets It is possible to to order an infinite set A in such a way that the poset (A, ¹) has a unique
maximal element (minimal element) and no largest element (least element).

Any poset In any poset, the largest element is a unique maximal element and the least element is the
unique minimal element.

Lower, upper bounds A set B ⊆ A of a poset (A, ¹) can have none, finite or infinite number of lower
or upper bounds, depending of ordering.

Finite lattice If (A, ∪, ∩) is a finite lattice (i.e. A is a finite set), then 1 and 0 always exist.
Infinite lattice If (A, ∪, ∩) is an infinite lattice (i.e. the set A is infinite ), then 1 or 0 might or might
not exist.
For example:
(N ≤) is a lattice with 0 (the number 0) and no 1.
(Z ≤) is a lattice without 0 and without 1.
Finite Boolean Algebra Non- generate Finite Boolean Algebras always have 2n elements (n ≥ 1.
Representation Theorem any Boolean algebra is isomorphic with the Boolean algebra of sets.