Post : Peirce's 1870 “Logic Of Relatives” • Comment 11.12
http://inquiryintoinquiry.com/2014/05/12/peirces-1870-logic-of-relatives-%e2%80%a2-comment-11-12/
Posted : May 12, 2014 at 2:00 pm
Author : Jon Awbrey
Peircers,
Since functions are special cases of dyadic relations and since the space of dyadic relations is
closed under relational composition — that is, the composition of two dyadic relations is again a
dyadic relation — we know that the relational composition of two functions has to be a dyadic
relation. If the relational composition of two functions is necessarily a function, too, then we
would be justified in speaking of ''functional composition'' and also in saying that the space of
functions is closed under this functional form of composition.
Just for novelty’s sake, let's try to prove this for relations that are
functional on correlates.
The task is this — We are given a pair of dyadic relations:
• P ⊆ X × Y and Q ⊆ Y × Z
The dyadic relations P and Q are assumed to be functional on correlates, a premiss that we express
as follows:
• P : X ← Y and Q : Y ← Z
We are charged with deciding whether the relational composition P ∘ Q ⊆ X × Z is also functional on
correlates, in symbols, whether P ∘ Q : X ← Z.
It always helps to begin by recalling the pertinent definitions:
For a dyadic relation L ⊆ X × Y, we have:
• L is a function L : X ← Y ⇔ L is 1-regular at Y.
As for the definition of relational composition, it is enough to consider the coefficient of the
composite relation on an arbitrary ordered pair, i:j. For that, we have the following formula, where
the summation indicated is logical disjunction:
• (P ∘ Q)_ij = ∑_k P_ik Q_kj
So let's begin.
• P : X ← Y, or the fact that P is 1-regular at Y, means that there is exactly one ordered pair i:k
in P for each k in Y.
• Q : Y ← Z, or the fact that Q is 1-regular at Z, means that there is exactly one ordered pair k:j
in Q for each j in Z.
• As a result, there is exactly one ordered pair i:j in P ∘ Q for each j in Z, which means P ∘ Q is
1-regular at Z, and so we have the function P ∘ Q : X ← Z.
And we are done.
Regards,
Jon
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