Chapter 5: Relations

8.1 Relations and Their Properties

Binary relations:
• Let A and B be any two sets.

• A binary relation R from A to B, written

R : A  B,
is a subset of the Cartesian product A×B.
• The notation a R b means (a, b)  R.

• The notation a R b means (a, b)  R.

• If a R b we may say that a is related to b (by
relation R ), or a relates to b (under relation R ).
 Example

Let R : A  B, and
A = {1, 2, 3} represents students,
B = {a, b} represents courses.
A×B = { (1, a), (1, b), (2, a), (2, b), (3, a), (3, b)}.
If R = {(1, a), (1, b)}, it means that student 1
registered in courses a and b
 Relations can be Represented by:
Let A be the set {1, 2, 3, 4} for which ordered pairs
are in the relation
R = {(a, b) | a divides b}

A- Roaster Notation: List of ordered pairs:

R = {(1, 1), (2, 2), (3, 3), (4, 4), (1, 2), (1, 3), (1, 4), (2, 4)}

B- Set builder notation:

R = {(a, b) : a divides b}
 Relations can be Represented by:

C- Graph:
R = {(1, 1), (2, 2), (3, 3), (4, 4), (1, 2), (1, 3), (1, 4), (2, 4)}

1 1
2 2
OR 1 2 3 4
3 3
4 4
Domain of R
 Relations can be Represented by:

D- Table:
R = {(1, 1), (2, 2), (3, 3), (4, 4), (1, 2), (1, 3), (1, 4), (2, 4)}

R 1 2 3 4

1 × × × ×

2 × ×

3 ×

4 ×
 Relations on a Set

• A (binary) relation from a set A to itself is called

a relation on the set A.

e.g. The “<” relation defined as a relation on the

set N of natural numbers:
let < : N  N :≡ {(a, b) | a < b }
If (a, b)  R then a < b means (a, b)  <
e.g. (1, 2)  < .
 Relations on a Set

• The identity relation IA on a set A is the set

{(a, a) | a  A}.

e.g. If A = {1, 2, 3, 4},

then IA = {(1, 1), (2, 2), (3, 3), (4, 4)}.
 Relations on a Set
Examples:
R1 = {(a, b) | a ≤ b}
R2 = {(a, b) | a = b or a = -b}
R3 = {(a, b) | a + b ≤ 3}
Which of these relations contain each of the
following pairs (1, 1), (1, 2), (1, -1)?

(1, 1) is in R1, R2, R3

(1, 2) is in R1, R3
(1, -1) is in R2, R3
 Question

How many relations are there on a set with n

elements?

Answer:
1. A relation on set A is a subset from A×A.
2. A has n elements so A×A has n2 elements.
2
n
3. Number of2 subsets for n2 elements is 2 , thus
there are 2 n relations on a set with n elements.

32
e.g. If S = {a, b, c}, there are 2  29  512 relations.
 Properties of Relations
1. Reflexivity and Irreflexivity
A relation R on A is reflexive if (a, a)  R for every
element a  A.

e.g. Consider the following relations on {1, 2, 3, 4}

R1 = {(1, 1), (1, 2), (2, 1), (2, 2), (3, 4), (4, 1), (4, 4)},
Not Reflexive.
R2 = {(1, 1), (2, 1), (2, 2), (3, 3), (3, 4), (4, 4)},
Reflexive.
R3 = {(a, b) | a ≤ b},
Reflexive.
 Reflexivity and Irreflexivity

A relation R on A is irreflexive if for every element

a  A, (a, a)  R.

Note: “irreflexive” ≠ “not reflexive”.

e.g. If A = {1, 2}, R = {(1, 2), (2, 1), (1, 1)} is

not reflexive because (2, 2)  R,
not irrflexive because (1, 1)  R.
 Example

1 2

3 4
Not Reflexive and Not Irreflexive
 Examples

1 2 1 2

3 4 3 4

Irreflexive Reflexive
 2. Symmetry and Antisymmetry

• A binary relation R on A is symmetric if

(a, b)  R ↔ (b, a)  R, where a, b  A.

• A binary relation R on A is antisymmetric if

(a, b)  R → (b, a)  R.
That is, if (a, b)  R  (b, a)  R → a = b.
 Examples

Consider these relations on the set of integers:

R1 = {(a, b) | a = b}
Symmetric , antisymmetric.
R2 = {(a, b) | a > b},
Not symmetric, antisymmetric.
R3 = {(a, b) | a = b + 1},
Not symmetric, antisymmetric.
 Examples

Let A = {1, 2, 3}.

Not reflexive, not irreflexive, not

R1 = {(1, 2), (2, 2), (3, 1), (1, 3)}
symmetric, not antisymmetric
Not reflexive, not irreflexive, not
R2 = {(2, 2), (1, 3), (3, 2)}
symmetric, antisymmetric
Reflexive, not irreflexive,
R3 = {(1, 1), (2, 2), (3, 3)}
symmetric, antisymmetric
Not reflexive, irreflexive, not
R4 = {(2, 3)}
symmetric, antisymmetric
 3. Transitivity

• A relation R is said to be transitive if and only if

(for all a, b, c),
(a, b)  R  (b, c)  R → (a, c)  R.

e.g. Let A = {1, 2}.

R1 = {(1, 1), (1, 2), (2, 1), (2, 2)} is transitive.

R2 = {(1, 1), (1, 2), (2, 1)} is not transitive, (2, 2) R2.

R3 = {(3, 4)} is transitive.

 Combining Relations

Let A = {1, 2, 3} , B = {1, 2, 3, 4},

R1 = {(1, 1), (2, 2), (3, 3)},

R2 = {(1, 1), (1, 2), (1, 3), (1, 4)}, then

R1  R2 = {(1, 1), (2, 2), (3, 3), (1, 2), (1, 3), (1, 4)}

R1 R 2 = {(1, 1)}

R1 − R2 = {(2, 2), (3, 3)}

 Composite Relations

• If (a, c) is in R1 and (c, b) is in R2 then (a, b) is in

R2◦R1 .

e.g. R is the relation from {1, 2, 3} to {1, 2, 3, 4}

R = {(1, 1), (1, 4), (2, 3), (3, 1), (3, 4)}.
S is the relation from {1, 2, 3, 4} to {0, 1, 2}
S = {(1, 0), (2, 0), (3, 1), (3, 2), (4, 1)}.
S◦R = {(1, 0), (1, 1), (2, 1), (2, 2), (3, 0), (3, 1)}.
 8.3 Representing Relations

• Some special ways to represent binary relations:

– With a zero-one matrix.
– With a directed graph.
 Using Zero-One Matrices

To represent a relation R by a matrix MR = [mij ], let mij = 1

if (ai , bj)  R, otherwise 0.

Let A = {1, 2, 3} , B = {1, 2} , R : A → B such that:

R = {(2, 1), (3, 1), (3, 2)} then the matrix for R is:
1 2

1 0 0  0 0
1 0 M R  1 0
2    
3 1 1 
1 1

 Zero-One Reflexive, Symmetric
The terms: Reflexive, non-reflexive, irreflexive,
symmetric and antisymmetric.
– These relation characteristics are very easy to
recognize by inspection of the zero-one
matrix.
1 any-  0 any-   1   0 
 1 thing   0 thing  1 0  1 0 1 

an
      

an
y
th

yt
in

hi
 1   0     1 

ng
 thing
any-   thing
any-     
 1  0  0   0 
Reflexive: Irreflexive: Symmetric: Antisymmetric:
all 1’s on diagonal all 0’s on diagonal all identical all 1’s are across
across diagonal from 0’s
 Example

Is R reflexive, symmetric, antisymmetric?

1 1 0

M R  1 1 1  
0 1 1 

Reflexive, symmetric, not antisymmetric

 Operations

1- Union and the Intersection

The Boolean Operations join  and meet  can
be used to find the matrices representing the
union and the intersection of two relations

M R1  R2  M R1  M R2
M R1  R2  M R1  M R2
 Example
Suppose R1 and R2 are relations on a set A which are
represented by the matrices:
1 0 1  1 0 1 
M R  1 0 0 and M R  0 1 1 
1 2

0 1 0 1 0 0

1 0 1
M R1  R2  M R1  M R2  1 1 1,
1 1 0 
1 0 1 
M R1  R2  M R1  M R2  0 0 0.
0 0 0
 Operations

2- Composite
Suppose that R : A ↔ B, S : B ↔ C
(Boolean Product)

M S R  M R  M S
 Example
Let
1 0 1 0 1 0 
M R  1 1 0 and M S  0 0 1
   
0 0 0 1 0 1
Find the matrix of S  R ?
1 1 1
M S  R  M R M S  0 1 1 
0 0 0
 Using Directed Graphs

Reflexive ( bcz: (1,1), (2,3),(3,3)  R)

Symmetric ((2,3) ,(3,2) R , (1,3),(3,1)  R)
Not Ant symmetric ((2,3) ,(3,2)  R)
Not Transitive ( (1,3) ,(3,2)  R
but (1,2)  R)
 Digraph Reflexive, Symmetric
It is extremely easy to recognize the reflexive,
irreflexive, symmetric, antisymmetric properties by
graph inspection.

 

 
     
Reflexive: Irreflexive: Symmetric: Antisymmetric:
Every node No node Every link is No link is
has a self-loop links to itself bidirectional bidirectional
Not symmetric, non-antisymmetric Non-reflexive, non-irreflexive