LATTICES AND BOOLEAN ALGEBRA

LATTICES:
Definition:
 A lattice is a partially ordered set < L, ≤ > in which every
pair of elements a, b ∈ L has a greatest lower bound and
least upper bound.
 The greatest lower bound of a subset {a, b}  L will be
denoted by a*b and the least upper bound by a  b.
 It is customary to call the GLB {a, b} = a*b. the meet or
product of a and b and
 the LUB {a, b} = a b the join or sum of a and b.
 Other symbol such as  and  (or) . and + are also used to
denote the meet and join of two elements respectively.
 When using the symbols . and + it is not uncommon to
suppress the dot and write a. b simply as ab.

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  In certain cases, the symbols  and  are also used to denote the
meet and join respectively.
 It follows from the definition of a lattices that that both *
and  are binary operation on L because of the uniqueness of the
least upper bound and greatest lower bound of any subset of a
partially ordered set.
 A totally ordered set is trivially a lattice, but not all partially
ordered sets are lattices
 The Hasses diagram of some of the partially ordered sets.

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 Example: 1
 Let S be the set and ρ(s) be its power set.
 The partially ordered set < ρ(s),  > is a lattice in which the
meet and join are the same as the operations
 and  respectively.
 In particular when s has a single element, the
corresponding lattices are a chain containing two elements.
 When s has two and three elements, the diagrams of the
corresponding lattices are as shown in fig (b) and (f).
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 Example:2
 Let I+ be the set of all positive integers, and Let D denotes the
relation of “ division” in I+ such that for any a , b ∈ I+ , a D b iff a
divides b.
 Then < I+ , D > is a lattices in which the join of a and b is given by
the least common multiple (LCM) of a and b, that is a  b=
(LCM) of a and b.
 (i.e.) a*b is the greatest common divisor (GCD) of a and b.
Example:3
 Let n be a positive integer and s be the set of all divisors of n
n

For example:
n=6,
S6={1,2,3,6} and
n=24
S24={1,2,3,4,6,8,12,24}
Let D denote the relation of “division”.
 The lattices <S6,D>, <S24,D>, <S8,D> and <S 30,D> are given in
lattices fig (b),(g),(a) and (f).

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 Example:4
 Let S be a nonempty set and π(s) be the set of all partitions
of S .Two binary operations * and  on π(s).
 We can also define a corresponding partial ordering
relation ≤ on π(s) S.T for  ,    ( s) .    iff every block
1 2

of  is a subset of some block of  .

1 2

1 2

 It is every to see that <π(s),  > is a lattice in which the

operations * and  are the required meet and join
respectively.
 In particularly,
Let S={a, b, c};
Then π(s)={  ,  ,  ,  ,  }
1 2 3 4 5

 Where,   {a, b, c} ,   {a, b, c},   {a, c, b},   {a, b, c}

1 2 3 4

and   {a, b, c}
5

 The diagram of <π(s),  > is given in lattices fig (c).

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  Partially ordered sets which are not lattices:

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 Some properties if Lattices:
 We shall first list some of the properties of the two
binary operations of meet and join denoted by * and 
on a lattices <L, >.
 For any a, b, c  L we have,
Meet join law
( L  1) a  a  a ( L  1)' a  a  a idempotent
( L  2) a  b  b  a ( L  2)' a  b  b  a commutative
( L  1) (a  b)  c  a  (b  c) ( L  1) (a  b)  c  a  (b  c) associative
( L  1) a  (a  b)  a ( L  1) a  (a  b)  a absorption

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 Theorem: 1
 Let < L, ≤ > be a lattices in which * and  denote the
operation of meet and join respectively. For a, b ∈L
a ≤ b  a * b = a  a b = b
Proof:
We shall first prove that a ≤ b  a * b = a
Let us assume that a ≤ b.
We know that a ≤ a
therefore, a ≤ a * b
But from the definition of a * b
We have a * b ≤ a
 Hence a ≤ b  a * b = a

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 Next, assume that a * b = a
But it is only possible if a ≤ b.
(i.e.) a * b = a  a ≤ b
combining these two results,
a ≤ b  a b = b
Similarly,
Alternatively from a * b = a
We have
b  (a * b) = b  a = a  b
But b  (a * b) = b
Hence a  b = b follows from a * b = a.
By repeating similar steps , we can shows that a * b =a
follows from a  b = b .
Hence these are equivalent.

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 Theorem: 2
Let <L, ≤ > be a lattice .For any a, b, c ∈L the following
properties called isotonicity hold
a  b  a  c
bc
a  b  a  c

Proof:
Form theorem 1 we get,
b ≤ c ⟺ b* c =b
To show that, a * b ≤ a * c
we shall show that
(a * b) * (a * c) = a * b
Note that,
(a * b) * (a * c) = (a *a) * (b * c)
= a* (b * c)
=a*b
 The second result can be proved in a similar manner.

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 Theorem:3
Let <L, ≤ > be a lattice. For any a, b, c ∈ L, the following
inequalities, called the distributive un equalities hold
a  (b  c)  (a  b)  (a  c)
a  (b  c)  (a  b)  (a  c)
Proof:
From a ≤ a ⊕b and a ≤ a ⊕c we have using (a  b  a  c  a  b  c)
a ≤ ( a ⊕b) * (a ⊕c)………………………………..(1)
b * c ≤ b ≤ a ⊕b and
b * c ≤ c ≤ a ⊕c
Hence by using (a  b  a  c  a  b  c) again we get
b * c ≤ (a ⊕b) * (a ⊕c)…………………………………(2)
From (1) and (2) and by using (a  b  a  c  a  b  c)
we get the required inequality
a ⊕(b *c) ≤ (a ⊕b)* (a ⊕c)
The second distributive inequality can be proved in a
similar manner or by using the principle of duality.
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 Theorem:4
Let <L , ≤ > be a lattice For any a , b , c ∈ L the following
holds
a ≤ c ⟺ a ⊕(b *c) ≤ (a ⊕b) * c
Proof:
since, a  c,(a  c)  c by property (a  b)  b iff a  b.
a  (b  c)  (a  b)  (a  c) by distributive property
a  (b  c)  (a  b)  c by property (a  c)  c        (1)
a  a  (b  c)  (a  b)  c  c by the definition of
LUB and GLB
(i, e) a  c        (2)
From (1) and (2) we get.
a  c  a  (b  c)  (a  b)  c
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 Lattices an Algebraic systems:
Definition:
A lattice is an algebraic system <L,*, ⊕> with two
binary operation * and ⊕ on L which are both (1)
commutative and (2) associative and (3) satisfy the
absorption laws. In other words the operation * and ⊕
satisfy the identities (L-2) to (L-4) and (L-2)’ to (L-4)’.
Sub lattices, Direct product
and Homomorphism
Definition:
Let <L,* ,⊕> be lattices and Let s  L be a subset of L.
The algebra <S,* ,⊕> is a sub lattices of <L,*, ⊕> iff S
is closed under both operations * and ⊕.s

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 Example:1
 Let <L, ≤ > be a lattices in which L = {a1 a2 ……a8} andS1,
S2 and S3 be the subsets of L given by S 1 ={a1, a2, a4, a6},
S2={a3,a5 a7,a8} and S3={a1,a2,a4,a8}.

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 Observe that  s ,  and  s ,  are sub lattices of  L, 
1 2

But  s ,  is not a sub lattices , because a , a  s but

3 1 4 3

a  a  a  s note that  s ,  is a lattices.

1 4 6 3 3

Example:2
The lattices of divisor of any positive integer n
denoted by  S , D  is a sub lattices of  I , D 
n 

Definition:
Let  L, ,   and  S , ,   be two lattices. The
algebraic system  L  S ,.,   in which the binary
operation + and . On L  S are such that for any
and  a , b  in  a , b  in L  S
1 1 2 2

a , b   a , b   a  a , b  b 
1 1 2 2 1 2 1 2

a , b   a , b   a  a , b  b 
1 1 2 2 1 2 1 2

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 Is called the direct product of the lattices  L, ,   and
 S , ,   .
Examble:3
let L={0,1} and the lattices  L,  be as shown in
fig.
< 1,1 > <1,1,1>
1
<1,0> <0,1> <1,1,0> < <0,1,1>
<1,0,0> <0,0,1>
0 < 0,0>
<0,0,0>
The lattices  L ,   ,  L ,   are shown in fig .
2

2
3

In general of  L ,   is an n cube.
n

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 Definition:
Let  L, ,   and  S , ,   be two lattices. The
mapping G:L  S is called a lattices homomorphism
from the lattices  L, ,   and  S , ,   if for any
a,b  L.
g (a  b)  g (a )  g (b) and
g (a  b)  g (a )  g (b)

If a homomorphism G:L S of two lattices  L, ,   and

 S , ,   is bijective. (i.e.) one-to-one , then g is called
isomorphism. If there exists an isomorphism between
two lattices then the lattices are called isomorphism.

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 Example:4
let S be any set containing n elements and P(s) be
its power set. The lattices   ( s), is a isomorphism to
the lattices  L ,  
n

it is interesting to observe that the lattices with one,

two or three elements are isomorphic to the chain
containing one, two or three elements respectively.
The other hand, any lattice of order 4 must be
isomorphic to one of the two lattices given in fig.
similarly, any lattice of order 5 is isomorphic to one of
the lattices whose diagram are given in fig.

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3/13/2017 MAT1014-Module-4, Dr. Ezhilmaran 19
  A homomorphism G:L L where  L, ,   is a lattices
is called and endomorphism, If G:LL is isomorphism
then g is called an automorphism.
 If is interesting to observe that if G:L  L is an
endomorphism. Then the image set g is a sub lattices
of L.
Definition:
Let  P,  and Q,  '  be two partially ordered sets. A
mapping F:P Q is said to be order – preserving
relative to the ordering  in P and  ' in Q iff for any
a,b p such that a  b, f (a)  f '(b) in Q
if  P,  and  Q,  '  are lattices and g:p  q is a lattices
homomorphism then g is order- preserving.

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 Definition:
Let  P,  and Q,  '  be two partially ordered sets are
called order isomorphism if there exist a mapping
f:p  q which is bijective and if both f and f’ are order
preserving.
Some special lattices:
Definition:
A lattices is called complete if each of its non-
empty subsets has a least upper bound and a greatest
lower bound.
Definition:
In a bound lattices  L, , ,0,1  an element b L is
called a complement of an element a  L if a*b=0 &a b.

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 Definition:
A lattices  L, , ,0,1  is said to be complemented
lattices if every element of L has atleast one
complement. In fig some lattices are shown and the
complement of some of the elements are noted below
the diagram.

1 1 1 x 2

x 1
x x
2
1
x 2
x
3
x
1
x
1

o 0 o
complement of complement of complement of
x is x 1 2
x are x , x
1 x are x , x
2 3 1 2 1

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 Definition:
Let  L ,   be the lattice of n- tuples of 0 and 1 .
n

This is a complemented lattice in which every element

has a unique complement.
the complement of an element of L can obtained by n

interchanging 1 by 0 and 0 by 1 in the n- tuples

representing the element. As a special case let n=3 .
The bounds of  L ,   ,< 0,0,0> and < 1,1,1> the
n

complement of <1,0,1> is < 0,1,0>

Definition:
A lattices  L, ,   is called a distributive lattice if for
any a, b, c  L
a  (b  c)  (a  b)  (a  c)
a  (b  c)  (a  b)  (a  c)
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 Example :
show that the lattices given by the diagram are not
distributive.

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 Solution:
a  ( a  a )  a 1  a  ( a  a )  ( a  a )
3 1 2 3 3 3 1 3 2

a  (a  a )  0  (a  a )  (a  a )
1 2 5 1 2 1 3

But
a  ( a  a )  a 1  a
2 1 3 2 2

(a  a )  (a  a )  0  a  a
2 1 2 3 3 3

hence the lattices is not distributive . In the other case,

b  (b  b )  b while (b  b )  (b  b )  0 which shows that
1 2 3 1 1 2 1 3

the lattices is not distributive.

Theorem:
Every chain is a distributive lattices.

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 Let L ,   be a chain and a, b, c  L. consider the
n

Following possible cases ,

i ) a  b (or) a  c and ii ) a  b (or) a  c
we shall show that the distributive law
i a  (b  c)  (a  b)  (a  c)  a
For ()
For (ii )
a  (b  c)  b  c and (a  b)  (a  c)  b  c

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