Let R and S be two equivalence relations on a set A.Then,a)R ∪ S i...
Let R and S be two equivalence relations on a set A.
a) R ∩ S is an equivalence relation on A:
To show that R ∩ S is an equivalence relation, we need to prove three properties: reflexivity, symmetry, and transitivity.
1) Reflexivity: For any element a ∈ A, (a, a) must be in R ∩ S. Since R and S are both equivalence relations, (a, a) ∈ R and (a, a) ∈ S. Therefore, (a, a) ∈ R ∩ S, and R ∩ S is reflexive.
2) Symmetry: For any elements a, b ∈ A, if (a, b) ∈ R ∩ S, then (a, b) ∈ R and (a, b) ∈ S. Since R and S are both equivalence relations, (b, a) ∈ R and (b, a) ∈ S. Therefore, (b, a) ∈ R ∩ S, and R ∩ S is symmetric.
3) Transitivity: For any elements a, b, c ∈ A, if (a, b) ∈ R ∩ S and (b, c) ∈ R ∩ S, then (a, b) ∈ R and (a, b) ∈ S, and (b, c) ∈ R and (b, c) ∈ S. Since R and S are both equivalence relations, (a, c) ∈ R and (a, c) ∈ S. Therefore, (a, c) ∈ R ∩ S, and R ∩ S is transitive.
Since R ∩ S is reflexive, symmetric, and transitive, it is an equivalence relation on A.
b) R ∪ S is not necessarily an equivalence relation on A:
To show that R ∪ S is not necessarily an equivalence relation, we need to find a counterexample.
Let's consider a set A = {1, 2, 3}, and two equivalence relations R = {(1, 1), (2, 2), (3, 3)} and S = {(2, 2), (3, 3)}. The union of R and S is R ∪ S = {(1, 1), (2, 2), (3, 3)}.
Although R ∪ S is reflexive and symmetric, it is not transitive. For example, (1, 1) ∈ R ∪ S and (1, 1) ∈ R ∪ S, but (1, 1) ∉ R ∪ S. Therefore, R ∪ S is not an equivalence relation on A.
In conclusion, R ∩ S is an equivalence relation on A, while R ∪ S is not necessarily an equivalence relation on A.