Ordering Induced by Preordering is Well-Defined

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Definition

Let $\struct {S, \RR}$ be a relational structure such that $\RR$ is a preordering.

Let $\sim_\RR$ denote the equivalence on $S$ induced by $\RR$:

$x \sim_\RR y$ if and only if $x \mathrel \RR y$ and $y \mathrel \RR x$


Let $\preccurlyeq_\RR$ be the ordering on the quotient set $S / {\sim_\RR}$ by $\RR$:

$\eqclass x {\sim_\RR} \preccurlyeq_\RR \eqclass y {\sim_\RR} \iff x \mathrel \RR y$

where $\eqclass x {\sim_\RR}$ denotes the equivalence class of $x$ under $\sim_\RR$.


Then $\preccurlyeq_\RR$ is a well-defined relation.


Proof

We need to demonstrate that when:

$a \sim_\RR a'$
$b \sim_\RR b'$

it follows that:

$\eqclass a {\sim_\RR} \preccurlyeq_\RR \eqclass b {\sim_\RR} \iff \eqclass {a'} {\sim_\RR} \preccurlyeq_\RR \eqclass {b'} {\sim_\RR}$


So, let:

$a \sim_\RR a'$
$b \sim_\RR b'$

for arbitrary $a, b, a', b' \in S$.

By definition of $\sim_\RR$, this means:

$a \mathrel \RR a'$ and $a' \mathrel \RR a$
$b \mathrel \RR b'$ and $b' \mathrel \RR b$


So:

\(\ds \eqclass a {\sim_\RR}\) \(\preccurlyeq_\RR\) \(\ds \eqclass b {\sim_\RR}\)
\(\ds \leadsto \ \ \) \(\ds a\) \(\RR\) \(\ds b\) Definition of $\preccurlyeq_\RR$
\(\ds \leadsto \ \ \) \(\ds a'\) \(\RR\) \(\ds b\) $\RR$ is transitive: $a' \mathrel \RR a$ and $a \mathrel \RR b$
\(\ds \leadsto \ \ \) \(\ds a'\) \(\RR\) \(\ds b'\) $\RR$ is transitive: $a' \mathrel \RR b$ and $b \mathrel \RR b'$
\(\ds \leadsto \ \ \) \(\ds \eqclass {a'} {\sim_\RR}\) \(\preccurlyeq_\RR\) \(\ds \eqclass {b'} {\sim_\RR}\) Definition of $\preccurlyeq_\RR$

That is:

$\eqclass a {\sim_\RR} \preccurlyeq_\RR \eqclass b {\sim_\RR} \implies \eqclass {a'} {\sim_\RR} \preccurlyeq_\RR \eqclass {b'} {\sim_\RR}$


The same argument is used to prove that:

$\eqclass {a'} {\sim_\RR} \preccurlyeq_\RR \eqclass {b'} {\sim_\RR} \implies \eqclass a {\sim_\RR} \preccurlyeq_\RR \eqclass b {\sim_\RR}$


Hence the result.

$\blacksquare$


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