transitive law

transitive law, in mathematics and logic, any statement of the form “If aRb and bRc, then aRc,” where “R” is a particular relation (e.g., “…is equal to…”), a, b, c are variables (terms that may be replaced with objects), and the result of replacing a, b, and c with objects is always a true sentence. An example of a transitive law is “If a is equal to b and b is equal to c, then a is equal to c.” There are transitive laws for some relations but not for others. A transitive relation is one that holds between a and c if it also holds between a and b and between b and c for any substitution of objects for a, b, and c. Thus, “…is equal to…” is such a relation, as is “…is greater than…” and “…is less than…”

There are two kinds of relation for which there are no transitive laws: intransitive relations and nontransitive relations. An intransitive relation is one that does not hold between a and c if it also holds between a and b and between b and c for any substitution of objects for a, b, and c. Thus, “…is the (biological) daughter of…” is intransitive, because if Mary is the daughter of Jane and Jane is the daughter of Alice, Mary cannot be the daughter of Alice. Likewise “…is the square of…”A nontransitive relation is one that may or may not hold between a and c if it also holds between a and b and between b and c, depending on the objects substituted for a, b, and c. In other words, there is at least one substitution on which the relation between a and c does hold and at least one substitution on which it does not. The relations “…loves…” and “… is not equal to …” are examples.