# Set of Equivalence relations over $\mathbb{R}$

I was taught that the cardinality of equivalence relations in $\mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}$ is $2^\mathfrak{c}$.

I was wondering if it could be proven using CSB.

Any help would be appreciated.

Given a subset $S$ of $\mathbb R\setminus\{0\}$, you can define an equivalence relation $\sim$ on $\mathbb R$ by $$a\sim b\iff(a\in S\land b\in S)\lor(a\notin S\land b\notin S)$$ for any $a,b\in\mathbb R$. Note that exclusion of $0$ ensures that the maping is injective (otherwise a set and its complement would lead to the same equivalence relation), but doesn't affect the cardinality. Therefore there exist at least as many equivalence relations as there exist subsets of $\mathbb R$.

On the other hand, an equivalence relation on $\mathbb R$ is a relation on $\mathbb R$, and thus a subset of $\mathbb R\times\mathbb R$. And $|\mathbb R\times \mathbb R|=|\mathbb R|$. Thus there exist at most as many equivalence relations as there exist subsets of $\mathbb R$.

• What is this $\sim$ symbol? a and b are elements, am I wrong? Feb 8 '18 at 9:02
• @GalushBalush: The equivalence relation. $a\sim b$ here means "$a$ is equivalent to $b$". See my edit. And yes, $a$ and $b$ are elements; I now edited this in, too. Feb 8 '18 at 9:06
• I don't understand why is this an injection. Feb 8 '18 at 9:24
• @GalushBalush: The relations defined through $S_1$ and $S_2$ are only the same if either $S_1=S_2$ or $S_1=\mathbb R\setminus S_2$. But the second case is excluded because neither $S_1$ nor $S_2$ has the element $0\in\mathbb R$. Or more directly: If $S_1\ne S_2$, then the symmetric difference $S_1\triangle S_2$ is not empty. But for $a\in S_1\triangle S_2$ we have either $a \sim_1 0$ or $a\sim_2 0$, but not both. Feb 8 '18 at 18:43

I'm assuming CSB is Cantor-Schröder-Bernstein.

One family of $2^c$ equivalence relations in $\mathbb R$ is this. For each subset $S$ of $[0,1]$, take $x \sim x+1$ for $x \in S$.

On the other hand, any relation in $\mathbb R$ can be considered as a subset of $\mathbb R \times \mathbb R$.

• Can you explain the injection? I don't really get it. Thank you for your help. Feb 8 '18 at 8:48
• Injection #1 takes the subset $S$ of $[0,1]$ to the equivalence relation $\sim$ where $x \sim x+1$ (and $x+1 \sim x$) for each $x \in S$. Injection #2 takes an equivalence relation on $\mathbb R$ to itself as a subset of $\mathbb R \times \mathbb R$. Use an injection of $\mathbb R \times \mathbb R$ into $[0,1]$ to map these into subsets of $[0,1]$. Feb 8 '18 at 19:19