What Determines the Number of Equivalence Classes in a Set?

[cragar]

Homework Statement

Lets say I have the word mississippi .
Would I then say that I have 11 elements in my multiset .
And would I say that I have 4 equivalence classes because I only have 4 different letters.

If I had the set A={1,2,3,} Would I say this has 3 different equivalence classes.

 

[lanedance]

i think you need to define exactly what your set is and what the equivalence class is defined by

an example might be the set of numbers
{2,3,4}

we could partition into 2 equivalence classes could be whether or not the number is divisible by 2

the letter case a little confusing as there are repeated elements in the set

 

[vela]

Homework Statement

Lets say I have the word mississippi .
Would I then say that I have 11 elements in my multiset .

Yup, if each element of the multiset is a single letter.

And would I say that I have 4 equivalence classes because I only have 4 different letters.

If I had the set A={1,2,3,} Would I say this has 3 different equivalence classes.

Not necessarily. The equivalence classes depend on exactly what equivalence relation you have.

 

[HallsofIvy]

It makes no sense at all to talk about "equivalence classes" without stating the equivalence relation. You have two questions here. What are your equivalence relations?