In mathematics, a binary relation associates some elements of one set called the domain with some elements of another set (possibly the same) called the codomain. Precisely, a binary relation over sets
and
is a set of ordered pairs
, where
is an element of
and
is an element of
. It encodes the common concept of relation: an element
is related to an element
, if and only if the pair
belongs to the set of ordered pairs that defines the binary relation.
An example of a binary relation is the "divides" relation over the set of prime numbers
and the set of integers
, in which each prime
is related to each integer
that is a multiple of
, but not to an integer that is not a multiple of
. In this relation, for instance, the prime number
is related to numbers such as
,
,
,
, but not to
or
, just as the prime number
is related to
,
, and
, but not to
or
.