- #1
Kate2010
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Homework Statement
I have got myself very confused about equivalence relations. I have to determine whether certain relations R are equivalence relations (and if they are describe the partition into equivalence classes, but I'll worry about that once I understand the first part).
Here are some of the relations:
i) S = {x is a real number| x>0}; aRb iff ab = 1
ii) S = R^3\ {0}; vRw iff there is a 1 dimensional subspace of the vector space R^3 which contains v and w.
I have several other relations to consider but is someone could give me some ideas with these, hopefully I will be able to transfer my understanding to the others.
Many thanks.
Homework Equations
The Attempt at a Solution
i) S = {x is a real number| x>0}; aRb iff ab = 1
If my understanding is correct, this is not an equivalence relation as aRa is not true for all a in S, e.g. if a = 2 then 2*2=4 is not equal to 1, so R is not reflexive.
ii) S = R^3\ {0}; vRw iff there is a 1 dimensional subspace of the vector space R^3 which contains v and w.
I have no idea on this one.