Relations & Functions
Mathematical relations are not as different from human family relations as you might suppose. In mathematics, for example, relations are simply pairings of objects (mostly, but not always mathematical in nature) which are related to each other, generally in some well defined way. Which come first and which come second in the pairing establishes an order on the pairings. Human relations are also pairings of individuals tethered together in some definable fashion. Who comes first and who comes second in human pairings is also very important when defining the relationship.
Marriage: "female is married to male".
In mathematics, we would represent this relationship as follows:
This relationship, called M for short, is a mathematical relation, as well as being indicative of the human relationship of marriage. The definition of the mathematical relation M, as it stands, has no additional restrictions on it. It does not preclude many females being married to a single male; nor does it forbid a single female having many different husbands. That is a true mathematical relation, a many-to-many pairing of objects where many means either greater than or equal to one for each pairing, not 'many' in the ordinary sense.
If restrictions are placed on the marriage relation M as to how many can be married to whom, then we get monogamy, polygamy, and polyandry. The tutorials on this topic will teach you the various kinds of mathematical relations, their important properties, and which of them are 'functional'.
Last Updated by SAS October 07, 2026, 16:00:54
