Definition:One-to-Many Relation

Definition
A relation $\mathcal R \subseteq S \times T$ is one-to-many :


 * $\mathcal R \subseteq S \times T: \forall y \in \Img {\mathcal R}: \tuple {x_1, y} \in \mathcal R \land \tuple {x_2, y} \in \mathcal R \implies x_1 = x_2$

That is, every element of the image of $\mathcal R$ is related to by exactly one element of its domain.

Note that the condition on $t$ concerns the elements in the image, not the codomain.

Thus a one-to-many relation may leave some element(s) of the codomain unrelated.

Also known as
A one-to-many relation is also referred to as:
 * an injective relation
 * a left-unique relation
 * a single-rooted relation
 * a one-many correspondence

Also see

 * Definition:Many-to-One Relation
 * Definition:Injection