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Lecture 6 Orderings Sep 19

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Lecture 6 Orderings Sep 19

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carljunecalderon5
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Ling 409: Partee lecture notes, Lecture 6

September 19, 2005 p. 1

Lecture 6: Chapter 3, part 2: Equivalence Relations, Partitions, Orderings

3.4. Equivalence relations and partitions


Using properties of relations we can consider some important classes of relations, of
which equivalence relations are probably the most important.

3.3.1. Equivalence relation.


An equivalence relation is a relation which is reflexive, symmetric and transitive. For
every equivalence relation there is a natural way to divide the set on which it is defined
into mutually exclusive (disjoint) subsets which are called equivalence classes. We write
[[x]] for the set of all y such that <x,y> ∈ R. Thus, when R is an equivalence relation, [[x]]
is the equivalence class which contains x.
[Optional note: not in text, will not be in homeworks or quizzes: The set A/R =def {[[x]]x ∈ A} is
called a quotient set of the set A by the equivalence R. A/R is a subset of ℘(A). For every
equivalence relation R, the function nat(R): A → A/R mapping every element x ∈ A onto [[x]] is
called a natural mapping of A onto A/R. ]

Examples. The relations “has the same hair color as” or “is the same age as” in the set of
people are equivalence relations. The equivalence classes under the relation “has the
same hair color as” are the set of blond people, the set of red-haired people, etc.
Partitions. Given a non-empty set A, a partition of A is a collection of non-empty subsets
of A such that (1) for any two distinct subsets X and Y, X ∩Y = ∅ and (2) the union of all
the subsets in collection equals A. The subsets of A that are members of a partition of A
are called cells of that partition.
There is a close correspondence between partitions and equivalence relations.
Given a partition of set A, the relation R = {<x,y> x and y are in the same cell of the
partition of A} is an equivalence relation in A. Conversely, given an equivalence relation
R in A, there exists a partition of A in which x and y are in the same cell iff <x,y> ∈ R..

Example. Consider the following set Countries = {Germany, England, India, China,
USA, Canada}. One possible partition on Countries is one that classifies them according
to the continents they are in. We get the following partition PC: {{Germany, England},
{India, China}, {USA, Canada}}. (Note that a partition is always a set of sets.)

What is the corresponding equivalence relation?

3.5. Orderings.
An order is a binary relation which is transitive and in addition either (i) reflexive and
antisymmetric or else (ii) irreflexive and asymmetric. The former are weak orders; the
latter are strict (or strong). [This is where the property “antisymmetric” becomes
important.]
Examples: (There are more on pp. 48-49 in the book.)
Ling 409: Partee lecture notes, Lecture 6
September 19, 2005 p. 2

Let A = {a,b,c,d}. Here is a weak order on A.


(3-21) R1 = { <a,b>, <a,c>, <a,d>, <b,c>, <a,a>, <b,b>, <c,c>, <d,d>}
We’ll draw the diagram for R1, and check that it is reflexive, antisymmetric, and
transitive.
There is a strong ( or strict) order that is a very close counterpart to R1, which we’ll call
S1:
(3-22) S1 = { <a,b>, <a,c>, <a,d>, <b,c>}
What did we do to turn R1 into S1? You can always turn a weak order into a strong order
that way, and vice versa.
Other good examples:
• “subset of” (weak order) and “proper subset of” (strong order), on some set of sets.
• “greater than” (strong order) on the set of positive integers. What’s the corresponding
weak order?

Some terminology: if R is an order, either weak or strict, and <x,y> ∈ R, we say that x
precedes y, x is a predecessor of y, y succeeds (or follows) x, or y is a successor of x. If x
precedes y and x ≠ y , then we say that x immediately precedes y if and only if there is no
element z distinct from both x and y such that x precedes z and z precedes y. In other
words, there is no other element between x and y in the order. Immediate predecessor
diagrams. See pp 49-50; we’ll illustrate on the board.

There is also a useful set of terms for elements which stand at the extremes of an
order. Given an order R in a set A,
1) an element x in A is minimal iff there is no other element in A which precedes x
2) an element x in A is least iff x precedes every other element in A
3) an element x in A is maximal iff there is no other element in A which follows x
4) an element x in A is greatest iff x follows every other element in A.
Note that greatest (least) element is maximal (minimal) but the opposite is not always the
case.
If an order, strict or weak, is also connected, then it is said to be a total or
linear order. Often orders in general are called partial orders or partially ordered sets.
This terminology has the unfortunate consequence that a partial order may be total; we
then often say “only a partial order” when we mean a partial order that is NOT total.
A relation R in A is dense if for every <x,y> ∈ R such that x ≠ y, there exists a
member z ∈ A distinct from both x and y such that <x,z> ∈ R and <z,y> ∈ R. The relation
‘is greater than’ is not dense on the natural numbers but is dense on the real numbers.
Examples. Relations ≥ and = on the set N of natural numbers are examples of weak
order, as are relations ⊇ and = on subsets of any set. The relations > and ⊃ are examples
of strict orders on the corresponding sets. The relations ≥ and > are linear orders. The
relations ⊇ and ⊃ are partial orders that are not linear orders.

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