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Symmetric and antisymmetric relations. By definition, a nonempty relation cannot be both symmetric and asymmetric (where if a is related to b, then b cannot be related to a (in the same way)). However, a relation can be neither symmetric nor asymmetric, which is the case for "is less than or equal to" and "preys on").
The relation "≥" between real numbers is reflexive and transitive, but not symmetric. For example, 7 ≥ 5 but not 5 ≥ 7. The relation "has a common factor greater than 1 with" between natural numbers greater than 1, is reflexive and symmetric, but not transitive. For example, the natural numbers 2 and 6 have a common factor greater than 1 ...
Relations that satisfy certain combinations of the above properties are particularly useful, and thus have received names by their own. Equivalence relation A relation that is reflexive, symmetric, and transitive. It is also a relation that is symmetric, transitive, and serial, since these properties imply reflexivity. Orderings: Partial order
A relation R is said to be reflexive if a R a holds for every a in the domain of the relation. Every reflexive relation on a nonempty domain has infinite descending chains, because any constant sequence is a descending chain. For example, in the natural numbers with their usual order ≤, we have 1 ≥ 1 ≥ 1 ≥ ....
A relation can be both symmetric and antisymmetric (in this case, it must be coreflexive), and there are relations which are neither symmetric nor antisymmetric (for example, the "preys on" relation on biological species). Antisymmetry is different from asymmetry: a relation is asymmetric if and only if it is antisymmetric and irreflexive.
In mathematics, a partial equivalence relation (often abbreviated as PER, in older literature also called restricted equivalence relation [1]) is a homogeneous binary relation that is symmetric and transitive. If the relation is also reflexive, then the relation is an equivalence relation.
A relation is connex if and only if its complement is asymmetric. A non-example is the "less than or equal" relation ≤ {\displaystyle \leq } . This is not asymmetric, because reversing for example, x ≤ x {\displaystyle x\leq x} produces x ≤ x {\displaystyle x\leq x} and both are true.
In mathematics, the symmetric difference of two sets, also known as the disjunctive union and set sum, is the set of elements which are in either of the sets, but not in their intersection. For example, the symmetric difference of the sets {,,} and {,} is {,,}.