relation

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(rĭ-lā'shən) pronunciation
n.
  1. A logical or natural association between two or more things; relevance of one to another; connection: the relation between smoking and heart disease.
  2. The connection of people by blood or marriage; kinship.
  3. A person connected to another by blood or marriage; a relative.
  4. The way in which one person or thing is connected with another: the relation of parent to child.
  5. relations
    1. The mutual dealings or connections of persons, groups, or nations in social, business, or diplomatic matters: international relations.
    2. Sexual intercourse.
  6. Reference; regard: in relation to your inquiry.
    1. The act of telling or narrating.
    2. A narrative; an account.
  7. Law. The principle whereby an act done at a later date is considered to have been done on a prior date.


In logic, a relation R is defined as a set of ordered pairs, triples, quadruples, and so on. A set of ordered pairs is called a two-place (or dyadic) relation; a set of ordered triples is a three-place (or triadic) relation; and so on. In general, a relation is any set of ordered n-tuples of objects. Important properties of relations include symmetry, transitivity, and reflexivity. Consider a two-place (or dyadic) relation R. R can be said to be symmetrical if, whenever R holds between x and y, it also holds between y and x (symbolically, (x) (y) [Rxy Ryx]); an example of a symmetrical relation is x is parallel to y. R is transitive if, whenever it holds between one object and a second and also between that second object and a third, it holds between the first and the third (symbolically, (x) (y) (z ) [(Rxy Ryz) Rxz]); an example is x is greater than y. R is reflexive if it always holds between any object and itself (symbolically, (x) Rxx); an example is x is at least as tall as y since x is always also at least as tall as itself.

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noun

  1. A logical or natural association between two or more things: connection, correlation, interconnection, interdependence, interrelationship, link, linkage, relationship, tie-in. Informal hookup. See connect.
  2. A person connected to another person by blood or marriage: kin, kinsman, kinswoman, relative. See kin.

Philosophically relations are interesting because of the historic prejudice, given its most forceful expression by Leibniz, that they are somehow ‘unreal’ compared to the intrinsic, monadic properties of things. A way of putting the idea is that if all the monadic properties of the objects of a domain are fixed, then the relational properties are fixed as well (relations supervene on monadic properties). But in modern logic and science there is no justification for this claim.

The central notions in the logical treatment of relations are as follows. The domain of a relation is the set of things that bear the relation to something. The range is the set of things that have something bear the relation to them. The field of a relation is the set of things that belong either to its domain, or to its range. A binary relation relates one element from its domain to one of its range: Rxy. Relations may be defined over greater numbers of things: for example, we can define Rxyz to be the relation holding between three numbers when x + y = z, and so up to relations defined over n-tuples of any size. For formal and mathematical purposes a relation may be identified with the class of ordered pairs (or in general ordered n-tuples) that satisfy it. So ‘father of’ becomes the set of all pairs x,y, such that x is the father of y, ‘is greater than’ becomes the set of all pairs x,y, such that x is greater than y, and so on. The main properties to be noticed in the theory of relations are indexed under their own headings: see antisymmetric, asymmetric, equivalence relation, irreflexive, ordering relation, reflexive, symmetric, transitive.

This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

Kin; relative. The connection of two individuals, or their situation with respect to each other, who are associated, either by law, agreement, or kinship in a social status or union for purposes of domestic life, such as parent and child or husband and wife.

The doctrine of relation is the principle by which an act performed at one time is deemed, through a legal fiction, to have been performed at a prior time. For example, in the conveyance of real property, the final proceeding that completes the transfer of property is considered, for certain purposes, to have become effective by relation as of the day when the first proceeding took place. Relation, in essence, is the legal term for retroactive effect.

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relation

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pronunciation

IN BRIEF: n. - Connection perceived or imagined. Mutual dealings or connections among persons or group; A relative.

pronunciation The difference between what the most and the least learned people know is inexpressibly trivial in relation to that which is unknown — Albert Einstein

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n

The designation of the position of one object as oriented to another (for example, centric relation of the mandible to the maxillae).

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categories related to 'relation'

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Random House Word Menu by Stephen Glazier
For a list of words related to relation, see:

Relation or Relations may refer to:

Contents

General use

  • Kinship, relationship by genealogical origin
  • Social relations, in social science, social interaction between two or more individuals
  • International relations, strategies chosen by a state to safeguard its national interests and achieve its foreign policy objectives

Logic and philosophy

  • Relation (philosophy), links between properties of an object
  • Relation (logic), term in set theory and logic, for a property that assigns truth values to k-tuples of individuals
  • Relation of Ideas, in the Human sense, is the type of knowledge that can be characterized as arising out of pure conceptual thought and logical operations (in contrast to a Matter of Fact)
  • Relational theory, framework to understand reality or a physical system in such a way that the positions and other properties of objects are only meaningful relative to other objects

Computers and technology

Mathematics

  • Relational algebra, an offshoot of first-order logic (and of algebra of sets), deals with a set of finitary relations (see also relation (database)) which is closed under certain operators
  • Relation (mathematics), a generalization of arithmetic relations, such as "=" and "<", that occur in statements, such as "5 < 6" and "2 + 2 = 4"
  • Ternary relation, finitary relation in which the number of places in the relation is three. Ternary relations may also be referred to as 3-adic, 3-ary, 3-dimensional, or 3-place.
  • Theory of relations, treats the subject matter of relations in its combinatorial aspect, as distinguished from, though related to, its more properly logical study on one side and its more generally mathematical study on another

Other uses

See also



Translations:

Relation

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - forhold, forbindelse, slægtning, beretning

idioms:

  • in relation to    i forhold til
  • with relation to    med hensyn til

Nederlands (Dutch)
verhouding, bloedverwant, relatie, betrekking, verband, vertelling, (mv) (seksuele) omgang, erfgenaam, het met terugwerkende kracht doen gelden

Français (French)
n. - parent, parenté, rapport, récit, (Math) rapport

idioms:

  • in relation to    par rapport à
  • with relation to    en ce qui concerne

Deutsch (German)
n. - Verhältnis, Verwandter, Beziehung, Erzählung, Anzeige

idioms:

  • in relation to    in bezug auf
  • with relation to    in bezug auf

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - αφήγηση, εξιστόρηση, διήγηση, συνάφεια, συγγένεια, συγγενής (κν. δικός), σχέση

idioms:

  • in relation to    σε σχέση με
  • with relation to    αναφορικά με, όσον αφορά

Italiano (Italian)
parentela, relazione, parente

idioms:

  • in/with relation to    in rapporto con, rispetto a, in relazione a

Português (Portuguese)
n. - relação (f), parentesco (m)

idioms:

  • in/with relation to    em relação a, com respeito a

Русский (Russian)
отношение, родственник, связь

idioms:

  • in/with relation to    касательно, что касается

Español (Spanish)
n. - relaciones, relación, proporción, pariente, conexión, parentesco

idioms:

  • in relation to    en relación con, en lo que se refiere a
  • with relation to    con referencia a, con relación a

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - samband, släkting

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
关系, 叙述, 联系

idioms:

  • in relation to    关于
  • with relation to    关于, 与...相比

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 關係, 敘述, 聯繫

idioms:

  • in relation to    關於
  • with relation to    關於, 與...相比

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 관계 , 연고, 이해관계

idioms:

  • in relation to    ~에 관하여
  • with relation to    ~에 관하여

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 関係, 関連, 人間関係, 利害関係, 物語, 血縁関係

idioms:

  • in/with relation to    関して, 関連して

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) علاقه, صله‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮קרוב, יחס, קרבה, קשר, הקשר, קרוב-משפחה, סיפור‬


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