DISCRETE MATHEMATICS:

EQUIVALENCE RELATIONS
Equivalence Relations
• Equivalence Relation is a binary relation that is reflexive,
symmetric and transitive. The relation "is equal to" is the
canonical example of an equivalence relation.

• Each equivalence relation provides a partition of the

underlying set into disjoint equivalence classes. Two
elements of the given set are equivalent to each other, if
and only if they belong to the same equivalence class.
Equivalence Relations
• In mathematics, a generalization of the idea of equality
between elements of a set. All equivalence relations (e.g.,
that symbolized by the equals sign) obey three conditions:
reflexivity (every element is in the relation to itself),
symmetry (element A has the same relation to element B
that B has to A), and transitivity (see transitive law).
Congruence of triangles is an equivalence relation in
geometry. Members of a set are said to be in the same
equivalence class if they have an equivalence relation.
Equivalence Relations
 
Equivalence Relations - Examples

Example:
The relation “is equal to”, denoted “=”, is an
equivalence relation on the set of
real numbers since for any x, y, z ∈ R:

1. (Reflexivity) x = x,
2. (Symmetry) if x = y then y = x,
3. (Transitivity) if x = y and y = z then x = z.
All of these are true.
Equivalence Relations - Examples
Let “'” denote the relation on the set of symmetric matrices (recall
symmetric
means A = At) defined as follows. A ' B if A = Bt. This is an equivalence
relation since for any symmetric matrices A, B, C:

1. (Reflexivity) A ' A since A = At.

2. (Symmetry) If A ' B then A = Bt, but then B = (Bt) t = (A) t = At. And this
implies B ' A.

3. (Transitivity) If A ' B and B ' C then A = Bt and B = Ct. Of course, since

these are symmetric matrices, we know B = Bt. Thus A = Bt = B = Ct, and
therefore A ' C.