§9.

4 Closures of Relations ( 关系的闭包 )

1. Introduction
(1) Example 0 (page 597)
A computer network has data centers
in Boston, Chicago, Denver, Detroit,
New York and San Diego. There are
direct, one-way telephone lines from
Boston to Chicago, from Boston to
Detroit, from Chicago to Detroit, from
Detroit to Denver, and from New York
to San Diego.
 Let R be the relation containing (a,b) if there is
a telephone line from the data center a to that
in b. How can we determine if there is some
(possibly indirect) link composed one or
more telephone lines from one center to
another?
Solution:
We can find all pairs of data centers that
have a link by constructing the smallest
transitive relation that contains R.
This relation is called the transitive closure
( 传递闭包 ) of R
(2) The Closure of Relation R with
Respect to Property P
Let R be a relation on A. R may or
may not have some property P, such as
reflexive, symmetric, or transitivity.
If there is a relation S with property P
containing R such that S is a subset of
every relation with property P
containing R, then S is called the
closure of R with respect to P.
2. Closures
(1) Reflexive Closure
The relation R={(1,1), (1,2), (2,1), (3,2)}}
on the set A={1,2,3} is not reflexive.
How can we produce a reflexive
relation containing R that is as small as
possible?
Answer:
by adding (2,2), (3,3) to relation R.
The new relation is called the reflexive
closure of R.
(2) Result 1
Let ∆={ (a,a) | a∈A}. It is called the diagonal
relation ( 对角线的关系 ).
The reflexive closure of relation R on set
A------------------------ R∪∆

Example 1 (page 598)

What is the reflexive closure of the relation
R={ (a,b) | a<b } on the set of integers?
Solution:
R∪∆=…………={ (a,b) | a≤b }
(3) Symmetric Closure
The relation { (1,1), (1,2), (2,2), (2,3),
(3,1), (3,2) } on {1,2,3} is not symmetric.
How can we produce a symmetric
relation that is as small as possible and
contains R?
Answer:
by adding (2,1) and (1,3).
The new relation is called the symmetric
closure of R.
(4) Result 2
Let R-1={ (b,a) | (a,b)∈R }.
The symmetric closure of relation R is
R∪R-1
Example 2 (page 598)
What is the symmetric closure of the
relation R={ (a,b) | a>b } on the set of
positive integers?
Answer:
R∪R-1=……….={ (a,b) | a≠b }
S=R∪R-1
1)Prove S is symmetric
for any (a,b) ∈S, (a,b) ∈R∪R-1 there are two cases
i) (a,b) ∈R, then (b,a) ∈ R-1, (b,a) ∈S
ii)

2) R ⊆ S
obvious
S=R∪R-1

3) For any T, T is symmetric, R ⊆ T, we prove S ⊆ T.

(a,b) ∈S,
(a,b) ∈R∪R-1 { S=R∪R-1 }
i) (a,b) ∈R
(a,b) ∈T { R ⊆ T }
ii) (a,b) ∈R-1
(b,a) ∈R {def of R-1}
(b,a) ∈T { R ⊆ T }
(a,b) ∈T { T is symmetric}
(a,b) ∈T
S⊆T
(5) Transitive Closure
Consider the relation R={ (1,3), (1,4),
(2,1), (3,2) } on the set {1,2,3,4}.
The relation is not transitive.
Add (1,2), (2,3), (2,4), and (3,1).
Still not transitive.
Why? -------(3,1) in
-------(1,4) in
-------(3,4) not in
transitive closure----------complicated
3. Paths in directed graphs
(1) Definition 1 (path)
A path from a to b in the directed
graph G is a sequence of edges (x0,x1),
(x1,x2), (x2,x3),…,(xn-1,xn) in G, where n is
a nonnegative integer, and x0=a, xn=b.
This path is denoted by x0, x1, …, xn
and has length n.
A path of length n≥1 that begins and
ends at the same vertex is called a
circuit or cycle.
(2) Example 3 (page 599)
Which of the following are paths in the
directed graph shown in Figure 1:
a, b, e, d;
a, e, c, d, b;
b, a, c, b, a, a, b;
d, c;
c, b, a;
e, b, a, b, a, b, e?
What are the lengths
of those that are paths?
Which of the paths in this list are circuits?
(3) The term path also applies to
relations
There is a path from a to b in R if
there is a sequence of elements a, x1,
x2, …, xn-1, b with (a,x1)∈R,(x1,x2)∈R,…,
and (xn-1,b)∈R.
(4) Theorem 1 (page 600)
Let R be a relation on a set A. There
is a path of length n, where n is a
positive integer, from a to b if and only
if (a,b)∈Rn.
Can prove formally by induction (see
textbook).
(2) Example 4 (page 600)
Let R be the relation on the set of all
people in the world that contains (a,b) if
a has met b. What is Rn, where n is a
positive integer greater than one? What
is R*?
Answer:
(a) The relation R2 contains (a,b) if there
is a person c such that (a,c)∈R and
(c,b)∈R, that is, if there is a person c
such that a has met c and c has met b.
(b) Similarly, Rn consists of those pairs
(a,b) such that there are people x1, x2,
… , xn-1 such that a has met x1, x1 has
met x2, … , and xn-1 has met b.

(c) The relation R* contains (a,b) if there

is a sequence of people, starting with a
and ending with b, such that each
person in the sequence has met the
next person in the sequence.
(3) Theorem 2 (page 601)
The transitive closure of a relation R equals the connectivity relation R*.
Proof:
1) R* contains R by definition.
2) We show that R* is transitive. If (a,b) ∈ R* and (b,c) ∈ R*, then there are paths from a to b and from
b to c in R. We obtain a path from a to c by starting with the path from a to b and following it with the
path from b to c. Hence, (a, c) ∈ R*, namely R* is transitive.

• we must also show that R

• ∗ is transitive and that R
• ∗ ⊆ S whenever S is a transitive relation that
• contains R.
• First, we show that R
• ∗ is transitive. Now suppose that S is a transitive relation containing R. Because S is transitive, Sn also is
• transitive (the reader should verify this) and Sn ⊆ S (by Theorem 1 of Section 9.1). Furthermore,
• because
• S
• ∗=
• ∞

• k =1
• Sk
• and SkPlease see blackboard and book.
3) Now suppose that S is a transitive
relation containing R, R ⊆ S. Because S
is transitive, Sn⊆ S (by Theorem 1 of
Section 9.1). It follows that S*⊆S. From R
⊆ S, R*⊆ S*, because any path in R is
also a path in S. Consequently, R*⊆ S*
⊆S.
(4) Lemma 1 (page 601)
Let A be a set with n elements, and R
be a relation on A. If there is a path of
length at least one in R from a to b,
then there is a path with length not
exceeding n.
Moreover, when a≠b, if there is a path of
at least one in R from a to b, then there
is such a path with length not
exceeding n-1.
From Lemma 1, we see that the transitive
closure of R is the union of R, R2, R3, …,
Rn.
R*=R ∪R2 ∪R3 ∪… ∪Rn