MAT103

DISCRETE
MATHEMATICS
Mary Ann Ritzell P. Vega, Ph.D.
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
CSM, MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology
 RELATIONS
Reference: Discrete Mathematics and its Applications (7 th Ed) by Kenneth H. Rosen
Relationships between elements of sets occur in many contexts. Every
day we deal with relationships such as those between a business and its
telephone number, an employee and his or her salary, a person and a
relative, and so on. In mathematics we study relationships such as those
between a positive integer and one that it divides, a real number and
one that is larger than it, and so on. Relationships such as that between a
program and a variable it uses, and that between a computer language
and a valid statement in this language often arise in computer science.
Relationships between elements of sets are represented using the
structure called a relation, which is just a subset of the Cartesian
product of the sets. Relations can be used to solve problems such as
determining which pairs of cities are linked by airline flights in a
network, finding a viable order for the different phases of a complicated
project, or producing a useful way to store information in computer
databases.
BINARY RELATIONS
◦ The most direct way to express a relationship between elements of two
sets is to use ordered pairs made up of two related elements. For this
reason, sets of ordered pairs are called binary relations.
◦ DEFINITION Let A and B be sets. A binary relation from A to B is a subset of
A × B.
◦ In other words, a binary relation from A to B is a set R of ordered pairs
where the first element of each ordered pair comes from A and the second
element comes from B. We use the notation 𝑎 𝑅 𝑏 to denote that
(𝑎, 𝑏) ∈ 𝑅 and to denote that (𝑎, 𝑏) ∉ 𝑅. Moreover, when
(𝑎, 𝑏) belongs to R, 𝑎 is said to be related to 𝑏 by R.
RELATIONS
◦ Binary relations represent relationships between the elements of two sets.
Moreover, n-ary relations express relationships among elements of more
than two sets. We omit the word binary when there is no danger of
confusion. Thus, we simply use the word relation and have the following
definition and examples.
A subset R of the Cartesian product A × B is called a relation
◦ DEFINITION.
from the set A to the set B. The elements of R are ordered pairs, where the
first element belongs to A and the second to B.
Example R = {(a, 0), (a, 1), (a, 3), (b, 1), (b, 2), (c, 0), (c, 3)} is a relation from
the set {a, b, c} to the set {0, 1, 2, 3}.
REPRESENTING RELATIONS
◦ EXAMPLE Let A = {0, 1, 2} and B = {a, b}. Then {(0, a), (0, b), (1, a), (2, b)}
is a relation from A to B. This means, for instance, that 0Ra, but that
◦ Relations can be represented graphically, as shown in Figure 1, using
arrows to represent ordered pairs. Another way to represent this relation
is to use a table, which is also done in Figure 1.
RELATIONS ON A SET
◦ DEFINITION A relation on a set A is a relation from A to A.
◦ In other words, a relation on a set A is a subset of A × A.
◦ EXAMPLES 1. What are the ordered pairs in the less than or equal to relation,
which contains (a, b) if a ≤ b, on the set {0, 1, 2, 3}?
◦ Solution: The ordered pair (a, b) belongs to R if and only if both a and b belong to
{0, 1, 2, 3} and a ≤ b. Consequently, the ordered pairs in R are (0,0), (0,1), (0,2),
(0,3), (1,1), (1,2), (1,3), (2,2), (2, 3), and (3, 3).
◦ 2. Let A be the set {1, 2, 3, 4}. Which ordered pairs are in the relation
◦ R = {(a, b) | a divides b} ?
◦ Solution: Because (a, b) is in R if and only if a and b are positive integers not
exceeding 4 such that a divides b, we see that
◦ R = {(1, 1), (1, 2), (1, 3), (1, 4), (2, 2), (2, 4), (3, 3), (4, 4)}.
RELATIONS on an INFINITE SET (Example)
PROPERTIES OF RELATIONS
There are several properties that are used to classify relations on a set. We
will introduce the most important of these here. In some relations an
element is always related to itself. For instance, let R be the relation on the
set of all people consisting of pairs (x, y) where x and y have the same
mother and the same father. Then xRx for every person x.
A relation R on a set A is called reflexive if (𝑎, 𝑎) ∈ 𝑅 for every
DEFINITION
element 𝑎 ∈ 𝐴.
Using quantifiers we see that the relation R on the set A is reflexive if ∀𝑎((𝑎, 𝑎) ∈ 𝑅),
where the universe of discourse is the set of all elements in A.
We see that a relation on A is reflexive if every element of A is related to itself.
REFLEXIVE RELATIONS
REFLEXIVE RELATIONS
◦ EXAMPLE Is the “divides” relation on the set of positive integers reflexive?
◦ Solution: Because a | a whenever a is a positive integer, the “divides” relation is
reflexive. (Note that if we replace the set of positive integers with the set of all
integers the relation is not reflexive because by definition 0 does not divide 0.)
EXAMPLE Which of the following relations on the set of integers are reflexive?

◦ Answer: 𝑅1 , 𝑅3 , 𝑅4 .
SYMMETRIC and ANTISYMMETRIC RELATIONS
In some relations an element is related to a second element if and only if the
second element is also related to the first element. The relation consisting of pairs
(x, y), where x and y are students at your school with at least one common class
has this property. Other relations have the property that if an element is related to
a second element, then this second element is not related to the first. The relation
consisting of the pairs (x, y), where x and y are students at your school, where x
has a higher grade point average than y has this property.
A relation R on a set A is called symmetric if (𝑏, 𝑎) ∈ 𝑅
◦ DEFINITIONS
whenever (𝑎, 𝑏) ∈ 𝑅, for all 𝑎, 𝑏 ∈ 𝐴.
◦ A relation R on a set A such that for all 𝑎, 𝑏 ∈ 𝐴, if (𝑎, 𝑏) ∈ 𝑅 and (𝑏, 𝑎) ∈ 𝑅,
then 𝑎 = 𝑏 is called antisymmetric.
 SYMMETRIC and ANTISYMMETRIC RELATIONS

That is, a relation is symmetric if and only if 𝑎 is related to 𝑏 implies that 𝑏 is

related to 𝑎. A relation is antisymmetric if and only if there are no pairs of distinct
elements 𝑎 and 𝑏 with 𝑎 related to 𝑏 and 𝑏 related to 𝑎.
That is, the only way to have 𝑎 related to 𝑏 and 𝑏 related to 𝑎 is for 𝑎 and 𝑏 to be
the same element. The terms symmetric and antisymmetric are not opposites,
because a relation can have both of these properties or may lack both of them.
A relation cannot be both symmetric and antisymmetric if it contains some pair of
the form (𝑎, 𝑏), where 𝑎 ≠ 𝑏.
SYMMETRIC and ANTISYMMETRIC RELATIONS

Which of the relations are symmetric ? And which are antisymmetric?

SYMMETRIC and ANTISYMMETRIC RELATIONS
Which of the relations on the set of integers described below are symmetric and which are
antisymmetric?
TRANSITIVE RELATIONS
Let R be the relation consisting of all pairs (x, y) of students at your school, where
x has taken more credits than y. Suppose that x is related to y and y is related to z.
This means that x has taken more credits than y and y has taken more credits than
z. We can conclude that x has taken more credits than z, so that x is related to z.
What we have shown is that R has the transitive property, which is defined as
follows.
◦ DEFINITION A relation R on a set A is called transitive if whenever (a, b) ∈ R
and (b, c) ∈ R, then (a, c) ∈ R, for all a, b, c ∈ A.
TRANSITIVE RELATIONS

◦ Which of the relations above are transitive?

TRANSITIVE RELATIONS
◦ Which of the following relations on the set of integers are transitive?
EQUIVALENCE RELATIONS
DEFINITION A relation on a set A is called an equivalence relation if it is
reflexive, symmetric, and transitive.
Equivalence relations are important throughout mathematics and computer science. One
reason for this is that in an equivalence relation, when two elements are related it makes
sense to say they are equivalent.
Two elements a and b that are related by an equivalence relation
DEFINITION
are called equivalent. The notation a ∼ b is often used to denote that a and b
are equivalent elements with respect to a particular equivalence relation.
For the notion of equivalent elements to make sense, every element should be equivalent to
itself, as the reflexive property guarantees for an equivalence relation. It makes sense to say
that a and b are related (not just that a is related to b) by an equivalence relation, because
when a is related to b, by the symmetric property, b is related to a. Furthermore, because an
equivalence relation is transitive, if a and b are equivalent and b and c are equivalent, it
follows that a and c are equivalent.