Alphabeta Math
DefinitionDefinition: Literature-sourcedProof: Not applicableSession-authored (Fable 5 assisted)verified 2026-08-06 (claude-opus-5)
How statement and proof provenance work

The first chip identifies the source of the statement or construction; the second identifies the source of its local proof or verification.

  • Literature-sourced: the exact statement appears in a cited source; only wording and notation differ.
  • AI-adapted: a semantically identical restatement of literature-sourced material, modulo indexing, notation, and boundary cases adopted by the library.
  • AI-generated: a genuinely novel statement formulated by AI, with no source for the claim itself.

These labels describe origin, not correctness: citations and verification chips remain separate evidence.

The image R[A]R[A] and the preimage R1[B]R^{-1}[B] of a set under a relation

Definition

Let RR be a relation (Relation, domR\operatorname{dom} R, ranR\operatorname{ran} R, fldR\operatorname{fld} R, and the specialisations "relation from AA to BB" and "relation on AA") and let AA and BB be sets. The image of AA under RR and the preimage of BB under RR are

R[A]:={branR:a (aA(a,b)R)},R1[B]:={adomR:b (bB(a,b)R)},R[A] := \{\, b \in \operatorname{ran} R : \exists a\ (a \in A \wedge (a,b) \in R) \,\}, \qquad R^{-1}[B] := \{\, a \in \operatorname{dom} R : \exists b\ (b \in B \wedge (a,b) \in R) \,\},

sets by The Axiom Schema of Separation: for each formula φ\varphi, pˉxyz(zy(zxφ(z,pˉ)))\forall \bar p\,\forall x\,\exists y\,\forall z\,(z \in y \leftrightarrow (z \in x \wedge \varphi(z,\bar p))) applied inside ranR\operatorname{ran} R and domR\operatorname{dom} R respectively. Thus bR[A]b \in R[A] holds if and only if (a,b)R(a,b) \in R for some aAa \in A, and aR1[B]a \in R^{-1}[B] holds if and only if (a,b)R(a,b) \in R for some bBb \in B (The Kuratowski ordered pair (a,b):={{a},{a,b}}(a,b) := \{\{a\},\{a,b\}\}).

The notation is consistent: applying the first clause to the inverse relation R1R^{-1} of The inverse relation R1R^{-1}, the composite SRS \circ R, and the restriction RAR \restriction A gives R1[B]={aran(R1):b (bB(b,a)R1)}R^{-1}[B] = \{\, a \in \operatorname{ran}(R^{-1}) : \exists b\ (b \in B \wedge (b,a) \in R^{-1}) \,\}, which has exactly the elements just described, since (b,a)R1(b,a) \in R^{-1} says (a,b)R(a,b) \in R and ran(R1)=domR\operatorname{ran}(R^{-1}) = \operatorname{dom} R.

Remarks

  • The bracket is not an application. R[A]R[A] is the set of things related to something in AA; it is written with square brackets precisely so that it is never confused with a value R(a)R(a), which for a general relation does not exist. Even for a function, f[S]f[S] and f(S)f(S) mean different things, and only the bracket form is used here.

  • Image and range. Taking A:=domRA := \operatorname{dom} R gives R[domR]=ranRR[\operatorname{dom} R] = \operatorname{ran} R, and taking A:=A := \varnothing gives R[]=R[\varnothing] = \varnothing, since no aa lies in \varnothing.

Depends on

Used by

Dependency tree · next 3 levels

Direct dependencies and their dependencies through the next three levels: 17 results over 10 levels. An arrow runs from a result to what uses it, and this result sits at the bottom with a heavier outline. Click the chart to enlarge it.

Sources