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As another example, consider the positive integers, ordered by divisibility: 1 is a least element, as it divides all other elements; on the other hand this poset does not have a greatest element. This partially ordered set does not even have any maximal elements, since any g divides for instance 2 g , which is distinct from it, so g is not maximal.
An antichain in a partially ordered set is a set of elements no two of which are comparable to each other, and a chain is a set of elements every two of which are comparable. A chain decomposition is a partition of the elements of the order into disjoint chains. Dilworth's theorem states that, in any finite partially ordered set, the largest ...
Hasse diagram of the natural numbers, partially ordered by "x≤y if x divides y".The numbers 4 and 6 are incomparable, since neither divides the other. In mathematics, two elements x and y of a set P are said to be comparable with respect to a binary relation ≤ if at least one of x ≤ y or y ≤ x is true.
In a partially ordered set there may be some elements that play a special role. The most basic example is given by the least element of a poset. For example, 1 is the least element of the positive integers and the empty set is the least set under the subset order. Formally, an element m is a least element if:
The red subset = {1,2,3,4} has two maximal elements, viz. 3 and 4, and one minimal element, viz. 1, which is also its least element. In mathematics , especially in order theory , a maximal element of a subset S {\displaystyle S} of some preordered set is an element of S {\displaystyle S} that is not smaller than any other element in S ...
In mathematics, especially in order theory, the greatest element of a subset of a partially ordered set (poset) is an element of that is greater than every other element of . The term least element is defined dually , that is, it is an element of S {\displaystyle S} that is smaller than every other element of S . {\displaystyle S.}
A partially ordered set (poset) consists of a set of elements together with a binary relation x ≤ y on pairs of elements that is reflexive (x ≤ x for every x), transitive (if x ≤ y and y ≤ z then x ≤ z), and antisymmetric (if both x ≤ y and y ≤ x hold, then x = y).
The value of the rank function for an element of the poset is called its rank. Sometimes a graded poset is called a ranked poset but that phrase has other meanings; see Ranked poset. A rank or rank level of a graded poset is the subset of all the elements of the poset that have a given rank value. [1] [2]