Relation (mathematics)

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This article is about basic notions of relations in mathematics. For a more advanced
treatment, see Binary relation.
showTransitive Binary Relations 

In mathematics, a binary relation over sets X and Y is a subset of the Cartesian

product X × Y; that is, it is a set of ordered pairs (x, y) consisting of
elements x in X and y in Y.[1] It encodes the common concept of relation: an
element x is related to an element y, if and only if the pair (x, y) belongs to the set of
ordered pairs that defines the binary relation. A binary relation is the most studied
special case n = 2 of an n-ary relation over sets X1, ..., Xn, which is a subset of the
Cartesian product X1 × ... × Xn.[1][2]
An example of a binary relation is the "divides" relation over the set of prime
numbers  and the set of integers , in which each prime p is related to each integer z that
is a multiple of p, but not to an integer that is not a multiple of p. In this relation, for
instance, the prime number 2 is related to numbers such as −4, 0, 6, 10, but not to 1 or
9, just as the prime number 3 is related to 0, 6, and 9, but not to 4 or 13.
Binary relations are used in many branches of mathematics to model a wide variety of
concepts. These include, among others:

 the "is greater than", "is equal to", and "divides" relations in arithmetic;
 the "is congruent to" relation in geometry;
 the "is adjacent to" relation in graph theory;
 the "is orthogonal to" relation in linear algebra.
A function may be defined as a special kind of binary relation. [3] Binary relations are also
heavily used in computer science, such as in a relational database management system
(RDBMS).
A binary relation over sets X and Y is an element of the power set of X × Y. Since the
latter set is ordered by inclusion (⊆), each relation has a place in the lattice of subsets
of X × Y. A binary relation is either a homogeneous relation or a heterogeneous
relation depending on whether X = Y or not.
Since relations are sets, they can be manipulated using set operations,
including union, intersection, and complementation, and satisfying the laws of
an algebra of sets. Beyond that, operations like the converse of a relation and
the composition of relations are available, satisfying the laws of a calculus of relations,
for which there are textbooks by Ernst Schröder,[4] Clarence Lewis,[5] and Gunther
Schmidt.[6] A deeper analysis of relations involves decomposing them into subsets
called concepts, and placing them in a complete lattice.
In some systems of axiomatic set theory, relations are extended to classes, which are
generalizations of sets. This extension is needed for, among other things, modeling the
concepts of "is an element of" or "is a subset of" in set theory, without running into
logical inconsistencies such as Russell's paradox.
The terms correspondence,[7] dyadic relation and two-place relation are synonyms for
binary relation, though some authors use the term "binary relation" for any subset of a
Cartesian product X × Y without reference to X and Y, and reserve the term
"correspondence" for a binary relation with reference to X and Y.