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I know that $(a,b)\in R$ means an ordered pair of elements $a$ and $b$ belonging to the set $R$ but sometimes I see some expression like $a R b$ ? What does this notation/expression mean ? How to read $a R b$?

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    Some more context would be useful. Symbols seldom have a universal meaning in mathematics.2012-08-04
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    @FredrikMeyer context is counting theory.2012-08-04
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    $(a,b)\in R$ does *not* mean that $a$ and $b$ are in $R$, but that the *ordered pair* of $a$ and $b$ is in $R$. To say that $a$ and $b$ are in $R$, you'd omit the parentheses.2012-08-04
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    @celtschk I edited the question. Does it sound right now ?2012-08-04
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    Yes, now it's correct.2012-08-04

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The reason for the notation $aRb$ is that many relations are already written as infix. For example, think of the relation $a on the set $\{1,2,3,4,5\}$. Actually that relation is given by the set $\{(1,2),(1,3),(1,4),(1,5),(2,3),(2,4),(2,5),(3,4),(3,5),(4,5)\}$. Now we could give a name to that set, say "$L$" (for "less than") and write "$(a,b)\in L$", but we don't do that. We write "$a". Now think of an arbitrary relation $R$. That arbitrary relation is also given by a set of pairs. But in analogy to relations like $<$ or $\ge$, we want an infix notation, but at the same time want to make clear that it is the relation given by the set $R$. Now one could have selected some general symbol and used that as general "relation" symbol, e.g. $a\rightleftharpoons_Rb$, however at some time someone decided for the minimalist solution of just writing $R$ itself in the middle, i.e. $aRb$, and that caught on. Note however that for specific types of relations (like equivalence relations or orders) usually special symbols ($\sim$, $\preceq$) are used, possibly with index $R$.

So in short, $aRb$ is exactly equivalent to $(a,b)\in R$, however emphasizes that this is a relation.

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    and how it it read as ? "Some relation R exits between a and b?"2012-08-04
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    @Geek: I'd just read the letters in sequence, but I guess that's not the standard way to read it.2012-08-04
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R usually denotes some relation, so it means that $a$ and $b$ are associated under relation R. If relation is represented by some subset of $C \subset A \times B$, then $a R b$ means that $(a,b) \in C$.

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    What does (a,b)∈C exactly mean ? Does it simply mean a and b belong to set C or something different ?2012-08-04
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    @Geek: No, $(a,b)$ represents an ordered pair, so $(a,b) \neq (b,a)$ unless $b=a$ and $(x_1, x_2) = (y_1, y_2)$ if and only if $x_1 = y_1$ and $x_2 = y_2$.2012-08-04
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    What does ordered pair mean in context of the set {a,b,c} does it mean a2012-08-04
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    @Geek: Well, without some more context, I'd say that ordered pair in context of that set is just an ordered pair of elements of that set, i.e. $(x,y)$ where $x\in \{ a,b,c \}$ and $y\in \{a,b,c\}$ or said differently just the set $\{a,b,c\} \times \{a,b,c\}$. There exist order relations, but they're not *strictly* related to ordered pairs.2012-08-04
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    Please see my edited question. I wanted to know how to read the expression $a R b$2012-08-04
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A relation $R$ on a set $S$ is just a subset of $S\times S$. and we say $a$ R $b$ in other words a and b are R related. for example I give a relation R on $\mathbb{Z}$ such that $aRb\Leftrightarrow 5|(a-b)$

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    That relation partitions integers into classes modulo $5$, though it is an example of a particularly *nice-behaving* relation, i.e. it's an equivalence relation.2012-08-04
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    yes, this is an equivalence relation, reflexive, symmetric and transitive2012-08-04
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    @KutukKatuk What does symbol between 5 and a-b mean ? How it is called ?2012-08-04
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    5 $|$ (=divides) (a-b)2012-08-04
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    @Geek: That symbol means "divides" (as in "5 divides a minus b"), and it says that $(a-b)$ is a multiple of $5$.2012-08-04
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Like the above poster said, $a R b$ usually means some kind of relation.

Another notation is $a \sim b$, which is frequently used to denote an equivalence relation.

A concrete example is $aRb$ if and only if $a-b$ is even.

Note that this is an equivalence relation:

aRa since $a-a=0$ is even. (reflexive)

aRb implies bRa since $a-b$ even implies $b-a$ even. (symmetric)

aRb, bRc implies aRc since $a-b$ even and $b-c$ even implies $a-c$ even. (transitive)

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$aRb$ means the same as $(a,b) \in R$