Let and be 2 non-empty sets and let and be 2 mappings from to . Now we define relations and in as follows:
if and
if or
Which of the relation(s) must be (an) equivalence relation(s)?
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The following two facts are direct to prove:
In fact, the first of these facts can be considered the main structure theorem for equivalence relations.
Then R = ≡ f ∩ ≡ g is an equivalence relation, but S = ≡ f ∪ ≡ g isn't necessarily. We can see this by setting f ( x ) = ∣ x + 1 ∣ , g ( x ) = ∣ x − 1 ∣ ⟹ − 2 ≡ f 0 ≡ g 2 ⟹ ( − 2 ) S 0 S 2 but − 2 ≡ f 2 , − 2 ≡ g 2 ⟹ ( − 2 , 2 ) ∈ S so S is not transitive, hence not an equivalence relation.