Set Theory and Relations 19

1.2.1 Definition.
Let A and B be two non-empty sets, then every subset of A × B defines a relation from A to B
and every relation from A to B is a subset of A × B.
Let R  A  B and (a, b)  R. Then we say that a is related to b by the relation R and write it
as a R b . If (a, b)  R , we write it as a R b .
Example: Let A = {1, 2, 5, 8, 9}, B = {1, 3} we set a relation from A to B as: a R b iff a  b;
a  A, b  B . Then R = {(1, 1)}, (1, 3), (2, 3)}  A × B
(1) Total number of relations : Let A and B be two non-empty finite sets consisting of m and
n elements respectively. Then A × B consists of mn ordered pairs. So, total number of subset of
A × B is 2mn. Since each subset of A × B defines relation from A to B, so total number of relations
from A to B is 2mn. Among these 2mn relations the void relation  and the universal relation A × B
are trivial relations from A to B.
(2) Domain and range of a relation : Let R be a relation from a set A to a set B. Then the set
of all first components or coordinates of the ordered pairs belonging to R is called the domain of
R, while the set of all second components or coordinates of the ordered pairs in R is called the
range of R.
Thus, Dom (R) = {a : (a, b)  R} and Range (R) = {b : (a, b)  R}.
It is evident from the definition that the domain of a relation from A to B is a subset of A and
its range is a subset of B.
(3) Relation on a set : Let A be a non-void set. Then, a relation from A to itself i.e. a subset
of A × A is called a relation on set A.

Example: 1 Let A = {1, 2, 3}. The total number of distinct relations that can be defined over A is

(a) 2 9 (b) 6 (c) 8 (d) None of these

Solution: (a) n( A  A)  n( A).n( A)  3  9

2

So, the total number of subsets of A  A is 2 9 and a subset of A  A is a relation over the set A.
Example: 2 Let X  {1, 2, 3, 4, 5} and Y  {1, 3, 5, 7, 9} . Which of the following is/are relations from X to Y

(a) R1  {(x, y)| y  2  x, x  X, y  Y } (b) R2  {(1,1), (2,1), (3, 3), (4, 3), (5, 5)}

(c) R3  {(1,1), (1, 3)(3, 5), (3, 7), (5, 7)} (d) R4  {(1, 3), (2, 5), (2, 4), (7, 9)}

Solution: (a,b,c) R4 is not a relation from X to Y, because (7, 9)  R4 but (7, 9)  X  Y .

Example: 3 Given two finite sets A and B such that n(A) = 2, n(B) = 3. Then total number of relations from A to B
is
20 Set Theory and Relations
(a) 4 (b) 8 (c) 64 (d) None of these
Solution: (c) Here n( A  B) = 2 × 3 = 6

Since every subset of A × B defines a relation from A to B, number of relation from A to B is equal to
number of subsets of A  B  2 6  64 , which is given in (c).

Example: 4 The relation R defined on the set of natural numbers as {(a, b) : a differs from b by 3}, is given by
(a) {(1, 4, (2, 5), (3, 6),.....} (b) {(4, 1), (5, 2), (6, 3),.....} (c){(1, 3), (2, 6), (3, 9),..}
Solution: (b) R  {(a, b) : a, b  N , a  b  3} = {((n  3), n) : n  N}  {(4, 1), (5, 2), (6, 3).....}

1.2.2 Inverse Relation.

Let A, B be two sets and let R be a relation from a set A to a set B. Then the inverse of R,
denoted by R–1, is a relation from B to A and is defined by R 1  {(b, a) : (a, b)  R}
Clearly (a, b)  R  (b, a)  R–1 . Also, Dom (R) = Range (R 1 ) and Range (R) = Dom (R 1 )
Example : Let A = {a, b, c}, B = {1, 2, 3} and R = {(a, 1), (a, 3), (b, 3), (c, 3)}.
Then, (i) R–1 = {(1, a), (3, a), (3, b), (3, c)}
(ii) Dom (R) = {a, b, c} = Range (R 1 )
(iii) Range (R) = {1, 3} = Dom (R 1 )

Example: 5 Let A = {1, 2, 3}, B = {1, 3, 5}. A relation R : A  B is defined by R = {(1, 3), (1, 5), (2, 1)}. Then R 1 is
defined by
(a) {(1,2), (3,1), (1,3), (1,5)} (b) {(1, 2), (3, 1), (2, 1)} (c) {(1, 2), (5, 1), (3, 1)}(d)
1 1
Solution: (c) (x , y )  R  (y, x )  R ,  R  {(3, 1), (5, 1), (1, 2)} .

Example: 6 The relation R is defined on the set of natural numbers as {(a, b) : a = 2b}. Then R 1 is given by
(a) {(2, 1), (4, 2), (6, 3).....} (b) {(1, 2), (2, 4), (3, 6)....} (c) R 1 is not defined (d)
Solution: (b) R = {(2, 1), (4, 2), (6, 3),......} So, R 1 = {(1, 2), (2, 4), (3, 6),.....}.

1.2.3 Types of Relations.

(1) Reflexive relation : A relation R on a set A is said to be reflexive if every element of A is
related to itself.
Thus, R is reflexive  (a, a)  R for all a  A.
A relation R on a set A is not reflexive if there exists an element a  A such that (a, a)  R.
Example: Let A = {1, 2, 3} and R = {(1, 1); (1, 3)}
Then R is not reflexive since 3  A but (3, 3)  R
Note :  The identity relation on a non-void set A is always reflexive relation on A. However,
a reflexive relation on A is not necessarily the identity relation on A.
 The universal relation on a non-void set A is reflexive.
(2) Symmetric relation : A relation R on a set A is said to be a symmetric relation iff
(a, b)  R  (b, a)  R for all a, b  A
 Set Theory and Relations 21

i.e. aRb  bRa for all a, b  A.

it should be noted that R is symmetric iff R 1  R
Note :  The identity and the universal relations on a non-void set are symmetric relations.
 A relation R on a set A is not a symmetric relation if there are at least two elements
a, b  A such that (a, b)  R but (b, a)  R.
 A reflexive relation on a set A is not necessarily symmetric.
(3) Anti-symmetric relation : Let A be any set. A relation R on set A is said to be an anti-
symmetric relation iff (a, b)  R and (b, a)  R  a = b for all a, b  A.
Thus, if a  b then a may be related to b or b may be related to a, but never both.
Example: Let N be the set of natural numbers. A relation R  N  N is defined by xRy iff x
divides y(i.e., x/y).
Then x R y, y R x  x divides y, y divides x  x  y

Note :  The identity relation on a set A is an anti-symmetric relation.

 The universal relation on a set A containing at least two elements is not anti-
symmetric, because if a  b are in A, then a is related to b and b is related to a
under the universal relation will imply that a = b but a  b.
 The set {(a, a) : a  A}  D is called the diagonal line of A  A . Then “the relation R in A
is antisymmetric iff R  R 1  D ”.

(4) Transitive relation : Let A be any set. A relation R on set A is said to be a transitive
relation iff
(a, b)  R and (b, c)  R  (a, c)  R for all a, b, c  A i.e., aRb and bRc  aRc for all a, b, c 
A.
In other words, if a is related to b, b is related to c, then a is related to c.
Transitivity fails only when there exists a, b, c such that a R b, b R c but a R c.
Example: Consider the set A = {1, 2, 3} and the relations
R1  {(1, 2), (1, 3)} ; R 2 = {(1, 2)}; R 3 = {(1, 1)}; R 4 = {(1, 2), (2, 1), (1, 1)}

Then R 1 , R 2 , R 3 are transitive while R 4 is not transitive since in R 4 , (2, 1)  R 4 ;(1, 2)  R 4 but
(2, 2)  R4 .

Note :  The identity and the universal relations on a non-void sets are transitive.

 The relation ‘is congruent to’ on the set T of all triangles in a plane is a transitive
relation.
(5) Identity relation : Let A be a set. Then the relation IA = {(a, a) : a  A} on A is called the
identity relation on A.
22 Set Theory and Relations
In other words, a relation IA on A is called the identity relation if every element of A is
related to itself only. Every identity relation will be reflexive, symmetric and transitive.
Example: On the set = {1, 2, 3}, R = {(1, 1), (2, 2), (3, 3)} is the identity relation on A .

Note :  It is interesting to note that every identity relation is reflexive but every reflexive
relation need not be an identity relation.
Also, identity relation is reflexive, symmetric and transitive.
(6) Equivalence relation : A relation R on a set A is said to be an equivalence relation on A
iff
(i) It is reflexive i.e. (a, a)  R for all a  A
(ii) It is symmetric i.e. (a, b)  R  (b, a)  R, for all a, b  A
(iii) It is transitive i.e. (a, b)  R and (b, c)  R  (a, c)  R for all a, b, c  A.

Note :  Congruence modulo (m) : Let m be an arbitrary but fixed integer. Two integers a
and b are said to be congruence modulo m if a  b is divisible by m and we write
a  b (mod m).
Thus a  b (mod m)  a  b is divisible by m. For example, 18  3 (mod 5) because 18
– 3 = 15 which is divisible by 5. Similarly, 3  13 (mod 2) because 3 – 13 = –10 which
is divisible by 2. But 25  2 (mod 4) because 4 is not a divisor of 25 – 3 = 22.
The relation “Congruence modulo m” is an equivalence relation.

Important Tips
 If R and S are two equivalence relations on a set A , then R  S is also an equivalence relation on A.
 The union of two equivalence relations on a set is not necessarily an equivalence relation on the set.
 The inverse of an equivalence relation is an equivalence relation.

1.2.4 Equivalence Classes of an Equivalence Relation .

Let R be equivalence relation in A(  ) . Let a  A . Then the equivalence class of a, denoted by
[a] or {a} is defined as the set of all those points of A which are related to a under the relation
R. Thus [a] = {x  A : x R a}.
It is easy to see that
(1) b  [a]  a  [b] (2) b  [a]  [a]  [b] (3) Two equivalence classes are either disjoint
or identical.
As an example we consider a very important equivalence relation x  y(mod n) iff n divides
(x  y ), n is a fixed positive integer. Consider n  5 . Then

[0] = {x : x  0 (mod 5)} = {5p : p  Z} = { 0,  5,  10 ,  15 ,.....}

 Set Theory and Relations 23

[1] = {x : x  1(mod 5)}  {x : x  1  5 k , k  Z}  {5 k  1 : k  Z}  {1, 6, 11, .......,  4 ,  9, .....} .

One can easily see that there are only 5 distinct equivalence classes viz. [0], [1], [2], [3] and
[4], when n = 5.

Example: 7 Given the relation R = {(1, 2), (2, 3)} on the set A = {1, 2, 3}, the minimum number of ordered pairs
which when added to R make it an equivalence relation is
(a) 5 (b) 6 (c) 7 (d) 8
Solution: (c) R is reflexive if it contains (1, 1), (2, 2), (3, 3)
 (1, 2)  R, (2, 3)  R

 R is symmetric if (2, 1), (3, 2)  R. Now, R  {(1, 1), (2, 2), (3, 3), (2, 1), (3, 2), (2, 3), (1, 2)}

R will be transitive if (3, 1); (1, 3)  R. Thus, R becomes an equivalence relation by adding (1, 1) (2, 2)
(3, 3) (2, 1) (3,2) (1, 3) (3, 1). Hence, the total number of ordered pairs is 7.
Example: 8 The relation R = {(1, 1), (2, 2), (3, 3), (1, 2), (2, 3), (1, 3)} on set A = {1, 2, 3} is
(a) Reflexive but not symmetric (b) Reflexive but not
transitive
(c) Symmetric and Transitive (d) Neither symmetric
nor transitive
Solution: (a) Since (1, 1); (2, 2); (3, 3)  R therefore R is reflexive. (1, 2)  R but (2, 1)  R, therefore R is not
symmetric. It can be easily seen that R is transitive.
Example: 9 Let R be the relation on the set R of all real numbers defined by a R b iff | a  b |  1 . Then R is

(a) Reflexive and Symmetric (b) Symmetric only (c) Transitive only (d)
Solution: (a) | a  a|  0  1 a R a  a  R

 R is reflexive, Again a R b  | a  b |  1 | b  a|  1  bRa

1 1 1
 R is symmetric, Again 1R and R1 but 1
2 2 2
 R is not anti-symmetric
Further, 1 R 2 and 2 R 3 but 1 R 3
[ | 1  3 |  2  1 ]

 R is not transitive.
Example: 10 The relation "less than" in the set of natural numbers is
[UPSEAT 1994, 98; AMU 1999]

(a) Only symmetric (b) Only transitive (c) Only reflexive (d) Equivalence relation
Solution: (b) Since x  y, y  z  x  z  x, y, z  N

 x R y, yR z  x R z ,  Relation is transitive ,  x  y does not give y  x ,  Relation is not

symmetric.
Since x  x does not hold, hence relation is not reflexive.
Example: 11 With reference to a universal set, the inclusion of a subset in another, is relation, which is
(a) Symmetric only (b) Equivalence relation (c) Reflexive only (d) None of these
24 Set Theory and Relations
Solution: (d) Since A  A  relation '  ' is reflexive.

Since A  B, B  C  A  C

 relation '  ' is transitive.

But A  B,  B  A ,  Relation is not symmetric.

Example: 12 Let A  {2, 4, 6, 8} . A relation R on A is defined by R  {(2, 4), (4, 2), (4, 6), (6, 4)} . Then R is

(a) Anti-symmetric (b) Reflexive (c) Symmetric (d) Transitive

Solution: (c) Given A = {2, 4, 6, 8}
R = {(2, 4)(4, 2) (4, 6) (6, 4)}

(a, b)  R  (b, a)  R and also R 1  R . Hence R is symmetric.

Example: 13 Let P  {(x , y )| x 2  y 2  1, x , y  R} . Then P is

(a) Reflexive (b) Symmetric (c) Transitive (d) Anti-symmetric

Solution: (b) Obviously, the relation is not reflexive and transitive but it is symmetric, because
x y 1 y  x 1 .
2 2 2 2

Example: 14 Let R be a relation on the set N of natural numbers defined by nRm  n is a factor of m (i.e., n|m).
Then R is
(a) Reflexive and symmetric (b) Transitive and
symmetric
(c) Equivalence (d) Reflexive, transitive but not symmetric
Solution: (d) Since n | n for all n  N , therefore R is reflexive. Since 2 | 6 but 6 | 2 , therefore R is not symmetric.

Let n R m and m R p  n|m and m|p  n|p  nRp. So R is transitive.

Example: 15 Let R be an equivalence relation on a finite set A having n elements. Then the number of ordered
pairs in R is
(a) Less than n (b) Greater than or equal to n (c) Less than or equal to n(d)
Solution: (b) Since R is an equivalence relation on set A, therefore (a, a)  R for all a  A . Hence, R has at least n
ordered pairs.
Example: 16 Let N denote the set of all natural numbers and R be the relation on N  N defined by (a, b) R (c, d) if
ad (b  c)  bc (a  d ), then R is [Roorkee 1995]

(a) Symmetric only (b) Reflexive only (c) Transitive only (d) An equivalence
relation
Solution: (d) For (a, b), (c, d)  N × N
(a, b)R(c, d)  ad(b  c)  bc(a  d)

Reflexive: Since ab(b  a) = ba(a  b)ab  N ,

 (a, b)R(a, b) ,  R is reflexive.

Symmetric: For (a, b), (c, d)  N  N , let (a, b)R(c, d)

 ad (b  c)  bc (a  d )  bc (a  d )  ad (b  c)  cb(d  a)  da(c  b)  (c, d)R(a, b)

 R is symmetric
Transitive: For (a, b), (c, d), (e, f )  N  N, Let (a, b)R(c, d), (c, d)R(e, f )

 ad (b  c)  bc (a  d ) , cf (d  e )  de (c  f )
 Set Theory and Relations 25

 adb  adc  bca  bcd .....(i) and cfd  cfe  dec  def .......(ii)

(i) × ef  (ii) × ab gives, adbef  adcef  cfdab  cfeab = bcaef  bcdef  decab  defab

 adcf (b  e )  bcde (a  f )  af (b  e )  be (a  f )  (a, b)R (e, f ) .  R is transitive. Hence R is an

equivalence relation.

Example: 17 For real numbers x and y, we write x Ry  x  y  2 is an irrational number. Then the relation R is

(a) Reflexive (b) Symmetric (c) Transitive (d) None of these

Solution: (a) For any x  R, we have x  x  2  2 an irrational number.

 xRx for all x. So, R is reflexive.

R is not symmetric, because 2 R1 but 1 R 2 , R is not transitive also because 2 R 1 and 1R 2 2

but 2 R 2 2 .

Example: 18 Let X be a family of sets and R be a relation on X defined by ‘A is disjoint from B’. Then R is
(a) Reflexive (b) Symmetric (c) Anti-symmetric (d) Transitive
Solution: (b) Clearly, the relation is symmetric but it is neither reflexive nor transitive.
Example: 19 Let R and S be two non-void relations on a set A. Which of the following statements is false
(a) R and S are transitive  R  S is transitive (b) R and S are transitive  R  S is transitive
(c) R and S are symmetric  R  S is symmetric (d) R and S are reflexive  R  S is reflexive
Solution: (a) Let A  {1, 2, 3} and R = {(1, 1), (1, 2)}, S = {(2, 2) (2, 3)} be transitive relations on A.

Then R  S = {(1, 1); (1, 2); (2, 2); (2, 3)}

Obviously, R  S is not transitive. Since (1, 2)  R  S and (2, 3)  R  S but (1, 3)  R  S .

Example: 20 The solution set of 8 x  6(mod 14 ), x  Z , are

(a) [8]  [6] (b) [8]  [14] (c) [6]  [13] (d) [8]  [6]  [13]

1
Solution: (c) 8 x  6  14 P(P  Z)  x  [14 P  6 ] , x  Z
8
1
x = (7 P  3)  x = 6, 13, 20, 27, 34, 41, 48,.......
4

 Solution set = {6, 20, 34, 48,.....}  {13, 27, 41, ......} = [6]  [13].
Where [6], [13] are equivalence classes of 6 and 13 respectively.

1.2.5 Composition of Relations.

Let R and S be two relations from sets A to B and B to C respectively. Then we can define a
relation SoR from A to C such that (a, c)  SoR   b  B such that (a, b)  R and (b, c)  S.
This relation is called the composition of R and S.
For example, if A = {1, 2, 3}, B = {a, b, c, d}, C = {p, q, r, s} be three sets such that R = {(1, a),
(2, c), (1, c), (2, d)} is a relation from A to B and S = {(a, s), (b, q), (c, r)} is a relation from B to
C. Then SoR is a relation from A to C given by SoR = {(1, s) (2, r) (1, r)}
In this case RoS does not exist.
26 Set Theory and Relations
In general RoS  SoR. Also (SoR)–1 = R–1oS–1.

Example: 21 If R is a relation from a set A to a set B and S is a relation from B to a set C, then the relation SoR
(a) Is from A to C (b) Is from C to A (c) Does not exist (d) None of these
Solution: (a) It is obvious.

Example: 22 If R  A  B and S  B  C be two relations, then (SoR )1 

(a) S 1 oR 1 (b) R 1 oS 1 (c) SoR (d) RoS

Solution: (b) It is obvious.

Example: 23 If R be a relation < from A = {1,2, 3, 4} to B = {1, 3, 5} i.e., (a, b)  R  a  b, then RoR 1 is

(a) {(1, 3), (1, 5), (2, 3), (2, 5), (3, 5), (4, 5)}
(b) {(3, 1) (5, 1), (3, 2), (5, 2), (5, 3), (5, 4)}
(c) {(3, 3), (3, 5), (5, 3), (5, 5)}
(d) {(3, 3) (3, 4), (4, 5)}
Solution: (c) We have, R = {(1, 3); (1, 5); (2, 3); (2, 5); (3, 5); (4, 5)}

R 1  {(3, 1), (5, 1), (3, 2), (5, 2); (5, 3); (5, 4)}

Hence RoR 1 = {(3, 3); (3, 5); (5, 3); (5, 5)}

Example: 24 Let a relation R be defined by R = {(4, 5); (1, 4); (4, 6); (7, 6); (3, 7)} then R 1oR is
(a) {(1, 1), (4, 4), (4, 7), (7, 4), (7, 7), (3, 3)} (b) {(1, 1), (4, 4), (7, 7), (3, 3)}
(c) {(1, 5), (1, 6), (3, 6)} (d) None of these

Solution: (a) We first find R 1 , we have R 1  {(5, 4 ); (4 , 1); (6, 4 ); (6, 7); (7, 3)} we now obtain the elements of R 1 oR we

first pick the element of R and then of R 1 . Since (4, 5)  R and (5, 4 )  R 1 , we have (4 , 4 )  R 1 oR

Similarly, (1, 4 )  R, (4 , 1)  R 1  (1, 1)  R 1 oR

(4 , 6)  R, (6, 4 )  R 1  (4 , 4 )  R 1 oR , (4 , 6)  R, (6, 7)  R 1  (4 , 7)  R 1 oR

(7, 6)  R, (6, 4 )  R 1  (7, 4 )  R 1 oR , (7, 6)  R, (6, 7)  R 1  (7, 7)  R 1 oR

(3, 7)  R, (7, 3)  R 1  (3, 3)  R 1 oR ,

Hence R 1 oR  {(1, 1); (4, 4); (4, 7); (7, 4), (7, 7); (3, 3)}.

1.2.6 Axiomatic Definitions of the Set of Natural Numbers (Peano's Axioms).

The set N of natural numbers (N = {1, 2, 3, 4......}) is a set satisfying the following axioms
(known as peano's axioms)
(1) N is not empty.

(2) There exist an injective (one-one) map S : N  N given by S (n)  n  , where n  is the
immediate successor of n in N i.e., n  1  n  .
(3) The successor mapping S is not surjective (onto).
 Set Theory and Relations 27

(4) If M  N such that,

(i) M contains an element which is not the successor of any element in N, and

(ii) m  M  m   M , then M  N

This is called the axiom of induction. We denote the unique element which is not the successor
of any element is 1. Also, we get 1   2, 2   3 .

Note :  Addition in N is defined as,

n  1  n

n  m   (n  m)

 Multiplication in N is defined by,

n .1  n

n.m   n.m  n