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In mathematics, a relation denotes some kind of relationship between two objects in a set, which may or may not hold. [1] As an example, " is less than " is a relation on the set of natural numbers ; it holds, for instance, between the values 1 and 3 (denoted as 1 < 3 ), and likewise between 3 and 4 (denoted as 3 < 4 ), but not between the ...
Associative operations are abundant in mathematics; in fact, many algebraic structures (such as semigroups and categories) explicitly require their binary operations to be associative. However, many important and interesting operations are non-associative; some examples include subtraction , exponentiation , and the vector cross product .
An example of a reflexive relation is the relation "is equal to" on the set of real numbers, since every real number is equal to itself. A reflexive relation is said to have the reflexive property or is said to possess reflexivity. Along with symmetry and transitivity, reflexivity is one of three properties defining equivalence relations.
A relation R is called intransitive if it is not transitive, that is, if xRy and yRz, but not xRz, for some x, y, z. In contrast, a relation R is called antitransitive if xRy and yRz always implies that xRz does not hold. For example, the relation defined by xRy if xy is an even number is intransitive, [13] but not antitransitive. [14]
A relation with n "places" is variously called an n-ary relation, an n-adic relation or a relation of degree n. Relations with a finite number of places are called finitary relations (or simply relations if the context is clear). It is also possible to generalize the concept to infinitary relations with infinite sequences. [4]
A binary relation that is antisymmetric, transitive, and reflexive (but not necessarily total) is a partial order. A group with a compatible total order is a totally ordered group. There are only a few nontrivial structures that are (interdefinable as) reducts of a total order. Forgetting the orientation results in a betweenness relation.
In linear algebra, a linear relation, or simply relation, between elements of a vector space or a module is a linear equation that has these elements as a solution.. More precisely, if , …, are elements of a (left) module M over a ring R (the case of a vector space over a field is a special case), a relation between , …, is a sequence (, …,) of elements of R such that
In mathematics, an equivalence relation is a binary relation that is reflexive, symmetric and transitive. The equipollence relation between line segments in geometry is a common example of an equivalence relation.