The Number of Binary Relations
The number of distinct binary relations on an n-element set is 2n2 (sequence A002416 in OEIS):
Number of n-element binary relations of different types | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
n | all | transitive | reflexive | preorder | partial order | total preorder | total order | equivalence relation |
0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
2 | 16 | 13 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
3 | 512 | 171 | 64 | 29 | 19 | 13 | 6 | 5 |
4 | 65536 | 3994 | 4096 | 355 | 219 | 75 | 24 | 15 |
OEIS | A002416 | A006905 | A053763 | A000798 | A001035 | A000670 | A000142 | A000110 |
Notes:
- The number of irreflexive relations is the same as that of reflexive relations.
- The number of strict partial orders (irreflexive transitive relations) is the same as that of partial orders.
- The number of strict weak orders is the same as that of total preorders.
- The total orders are the partial orders that are also total preorders. The number of preorders that are neither a partial order nor a total preorder is, therefore, the number of preorders, minus the number of partial orders, minus the number of total preorders, plus the number of total orders: 0, 0, 0, 3, and 85, respectively.
- the number of equivalence relations is the number of partitions, which is the Bell number.
The binary relations can be grouped into pairs (relation, complement), except that for n = 0 the relation is its own complement. The non-symmetric ones can be grouped into quadruples (relation, complement, inverse, inverse complement).
Read more about this topic: Binary Relation
Famous quotes containing the words number and/or relations:
“The world is so full of a number of things,
Im sure we should all be as happy as kings.”
—Robert Louis Stevenson (18501894)
“All social rules and all relations between individuals are eroded by a cash economy, avarice drags Pluto himself out of the bowels of the earth.”
—Karl Marx (18181883)
Related Subjects
Related Phrases
Related Words