Reflexive relation

Reflexive relation
In mathematics, a binary relation R on a set X is reflexive if it relates every element of X to itself.
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.
Definitions
Let be a binary relation on a set which by definition is just a subset of
For any the notation means that while "not " means that
The relation is called if for every or equivalently, if where denotes the identity relation on
The of is the union which can equivalently be defined as the smallest (with respect to ) reflexive relation on that is a superset of A relation is reflexive if and only if it is equal to its reflexive closure.
The or of is the smallest (with respect to ) relation on that has the same reflexive closure as It is equal to The reflexive reduction of can, in a sense, be seen as a construction that is the "opposite" of the reflexive closure of
For example, the reflexive closure of the canonical strict inequality on the reals is the usual non-strict inequality whereas the reflexive reduction of is
Related definitions
There are several definitions related to the reflexive property.
The relation is called:
, or If it does not relate any element to itself; that is, if not for every A relation is irreflexive if and only if its complement in is reflexive. An asymmetric relation is necessarily irreflexive. A transitive and irreflexive relation is necessarily asymmetric.
If whenever are such that then necessarily
If whenever are such that then necessarily
If every element that is part of some relation is related to itself. Explicitly, this means that whenever are such that then necessarily Equivalently, a binary relation is quasi-reflexive if and only if it is both left quasi-reflexive and right quasi-reflexive. A relation is quasi-reflexive if and only if its symmetric closure is left (or right) quasi-reflexive.
Antisymmetric If whenever are such that then necessarily
If whenever are such that then necessarily A relation is coreflexive if and only if its symmetric closure is anti-symmetric.
A reflexive relation on a nonempty set can neither be irreflexive, nor asymmetric (is called if implies not ), nor antitransitive (is if implies not ).
Examples
Examples of reflexive relations include:
"is equal to" (equality)
"is a subset of" (set inclusion)
"divides" (divisibility)
"is greater than or equal to"
"is less than or equal to"
Examples of irreflexive relations include:
"is not equal to"
"is coprime to" on the integers larger than 1
"is a proper subset of"
"is greater than"
"is less than"
An example of an irreflexive relation, which means that it does not relate any element to itself, is the "greater than" relation on the real numbers. Not every relation which is not reflexive is irreflexive; it is possible to define relations where some elements are related to themselves but others are not (that is, neither all nor none are). For example, the binary relation "the product of and is even" is reflexive on the set of even numbers, irreflexive on the set of odd numbers, and neither reflexive nor irreflexive on the set of natural numbers.
An example of a quasi-reflexive relation is "has the same limit as" on the set of sequences of real numbers: not every sequence has a limit, and thus the relation is not reflexive, but if a sequence has the same limit as some sequence, then it has the same limit as itself.
An example of a left quasi-reflexive relation is a left Euclidean relation, which is always left quasi-reflexive but not necessarily right quasi-reflexive, and thus not necessarily quasi-reflexive.
An example of a coreflexive relation is the relation on integers in which each odd number is related to itself and there are no other relations. The equality relation is the only example of a both reflexive and coreflexive relation, and any coreflexive relation is a subset of the identity relation. The union of a coreflexive relation and a transitive relation on the same set is always transitive.
Number of reflexive relations
The number of reflexive relations on an -element set is
Philosophical logic
Authors in philosophical logic often use different terminology.
Reflexive relations in the mathematical sense are called totally reflexive in philosophical logic, and quasi-reflexive relations are called reflexive.
Notes
References
Levy, A. (1979) Basic Set Theory, Perspectives in Mathematical Logic, Springer-Verlag. Reprinted 2002, Dover.
Lidl, R. and Pilz, G. (1998). Applied abstract algebra, Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics, Springer-Verlag.
Quine, W. V. (1951). Mathematical Logic, Revised Edition. Reprinted 2003, Harvard University Press.
Gunther Schmidt, 2010. Relational Mathematics. Cambridge University Press, .
External links
Binary relations