Amity School of Engineering & Technology (CSE)

Discrete Mathematics
Module II
Lecture-3
Equivalence and Partial order
relation
Anant Kr Jayswal
ASET(CSE)
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Module I:
 Equivalence and Partial Order
Relation

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OBJECTIVES
After completing this section, you will be able to

 Define Equivalence Relation

 Define Partial Order Relation

 Differentiate Between Equivalence Relation and Partial

Order Relation

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Equivalence Relation
A relation R in a set A is said to be an equivalence relation if

1) R is Reflexive i.e. aRa aA.

2) R is Symmetric i.e. aRabRa, a,bA.
3) R is Transitive i.e. If aRb and bRc aRc a,b,cA.

Example1: Relation R on a set A defined by “a is equal to b” is an

equivalence relation, since it is reflexive (a = a for every aA), symmetric
(If a = b, then b = a , a,bA) and transitive (If a = b and b = c, then a =
c, a,b,cA).

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Partial Order Relation

A relation R on a set A is called a Partial ordering or a partial order
relation, if it is:
Reflexive, i.e. aRa aA.
Anti-symmetric, i.e. If aRb and bRa a=b a,bA.
Transitive i.e. If aRb and bRc aRc a,b,cA.
 
The set over which a partial order is defined is called a partially
ordered set (or POSET). It is denoted by (A,R) where A is a given set
and R is a relation which satisfy the above three conditions.

Example: The relation ≤ (less than or equal to) on the set R of real
numbers is a partial order relation.
Since the relation () is:
1. Reflexive i.e. aa, aR
2. Anti-symmetric i.e. a b and b aa=b, a,bR
3. Transitive i.e ab and bc, ac a,b,cR
 
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OBJECTIVES
Summary

 A relation R on a set A is said to be an equivalence relation if

R is Reflexive, Symmetric and Transitive

 A relation R on a set A is said to be an Partial-Order relation

if R is Reflexive, Anti-symmetric and Transitive.

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