Definition:Symmetric Relation

Definition

Let $\mathcal R \subseteq S \times S$ be a relation in $S$.

Definition 1

$\mathcal R$ is symmetric if and only if:

$\tuple {x, y} \in \mathcal R \implies \tuple {y, x} \in \mathcal R$

Definition 2

$\mathcal R$ is symmetric if and only if it equals its inverse:

$\mathcal R^{-1} = \mathcal R$

Definition 3

$\mathcal R$ is symmetric if and only if it is a subset of its inverse:

$\mathcal R \subseteq \mathcal R^{-1}$

Examples

Brotherhood Relation

Let $P$ be the set of male people.

Let $\sim$ be the relation on $P$ defined as:

$\forall \tuple {x, y} \in P \times P: x \sim y \iff \text { $x$ is a brother of $y$}$

Then $\sim$ is a symmetric relation.

This does not hold if $P$ is the set of all people.

Because if $a$ is male and $b$ are brother and sister, then:

$a \sim b$

but:

$b \not \sim a$

Also see

• Equivalence of Definitions of Symmetric Relation

• Definition:Symmetry (Relation)

• Definition:Asymmetric Relation
• Definition:Antisymmetric Relation
• Definition:Non-symmetric Relation

• Results about symmetry of relations can be found here.