The number of relations, defined on the set {๐, ๐, ๐, ๐}, which are both reflexive and symmetric, is equal to:
- A.
16
- B.
64
- C.
256
- D.
1024
Let the set be
A = {๐, ๐, ๐, ๐},
so |A| = 4.
For a reflexive relation, all diagonal pairs
(๐,๐), (๐,๐), (๐,๐), (๐,๐)
must be included.
There are
4C2 = 6
unordered pairs of distinct elements.
For each unordered pair {๐ข, ๐ฃ}, symmetry gives two possibilities:
โข Include both (๐ข, ๐ฃ) and (๐ฃ, ๐ข), or โข Exclude both.
Thus, each of the 6 unordered pairs has 2 independent choices.
Hence, the total number of reflexive and symmetric relations is
2โถ = 64.