Converse

🅟 Feb 21, 2026

  🅤 Jun 08, 2026

Definition 1.

Let $R$ be a binary relation. The converse of $R$ is the relation

\[R^{-1} = \{(y, x) : (x, y) \in R\}.\]

This is a set by Separation Schema:

\[R^{-1} \subseteq \im R \times \dom R.\]

Proposition 1. Involutivity.

For any binary relation $R$,

\[(R^{-1})^{-1} = R.\]

Proposition 2.

Let $A$ and $B$ be finite sets. For any surjection $f : A \to B$,

\[\lvert A \rvert = \sum_{b \in B} \big\lvert f^{-1}[\{ b \}] \big\rvert.\]

Proof.

\[A = \bigsqcup_{b \in B}f^{-1}[\{ b \}].\]

In particular:

Proposition 3.

Let $A$ and $B$ be finite sets. For any surjection $f : A \to B$, if for every $b\in B$,

\[\big\lvert f^{-1}[\{ b \}] \big\rvert = k,\]

then

\[\lvert A \rvert = k \lvert B \rvert.\]