Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Relational graphs and relations

See also: Mathematical Analysis — index



Let's start with three definitions:

  • The Cartesian product  [;X\times Y;]  of two sets  [;X\ Y;]  is defined as the set of all ordered pairs such that their first and second terms belong respectively to  [;X\ Y;]:

    [;:\quad\quad X\times Y\ \ :=\ \ \{(x\ y)\ :\ x\in X\ \ \&\ \ y\in Y\};]

  • A set [;T;] is said to be a relational graph  [; \Leftarrow : \Rightarrow ;]  every element of [;T;] is an ordered pair.

  • An ordered triple  [;\mathbf{T} := (X\ Y\ T);]  is said to be a relation  [; \Leftarrow : \Rightarrow\ \ T ;]  is a relational graph such that [;T \subseteq X\times Y ;].  Such a relation  [;\mathbf{T};]  is said to be a relation in the sets  [;X\ \ Y;],  where  [;X;]  is called the domain of relation  [;\mathbf{T};],  and  [;Y;] is called the codomain or the target of [;\mathbf{T};].


REMARK  We could define a relation in fewer words: an ordered triple  [;\mathbf{T} := (X\ Y\ T);]  is said to be a relation  [; \Leftarrow : \Rightarrow\ \ T \subseteq X\times Y ;].

We see that a relation is an ordered triple of the form:

          (domain  codomain  rel_graph)

where rel_graph is a relational graph contained in the Cartesian product of the domain and codomain.

Observe that  [;(X \ Y\ X\times\ Y);]  is a relation in the sets  [;X\ \ Y;];  its relational graph contains the relational graph of any other relation in the sets  [;X\ \ Y;].  Also the empty set is a relational graph. It is contained in any other relational graph. Thus any relational graph of any relation in the sets  [;X\ \ Y;];  is contained between these two relational graphs.

No comments:

Post a Comment