Preorder

If a preorder is also antisymmetric, that is, ${\displaystyle a\leq b}$ and ${\displaystyle b\leq a}$ implies ${\displaystyle a=b,}$ then it is a partial order.

On the other hand, if it is symmetric, that is, if ${\displaystyle a\leq b}$ implies ${\displaystyle b\leq a,}$ then it is an equivalence relation.

A preorder is total if ${\displaystyle a\leq b}$ or ${\displaystyle b\leq a}$ for all ${\displaystyle a,b\in P.}$

The notion of a preordered set ${\displaystyle P}$ can be formulated in a categorical framework as a thin category; that is, as a category with at most one morphism from an object to another. Here the objects correspond to the elements of ${\displaystyle P,}$ and there is one morphism for objects which are related, zero otherwise. Alternately, a preordered set can be understood as an enriched category, enriched over the category ${\displaystyle 2=(0\to 1).}$

A preordered class is a class equipped with a preorder. Every set is a class and so every preordered set is a preordered class.

• (see figure above) By x//4 is meant the greatest integer that is less than or equal to x divided by 4, thus 1//4 is 0, which is certainly less than or equal to 0, which is itself the same as 0//4.

• The reachability relationship in any directed graph (possibly containing cycles) gives rise to a preorder, where ${\displaystyle x\leq y}$ in the preorder if and only if there is a path from x to y in the directed graph. Conversely, every preorder is the reachability relationship of a directed graph (for instance, the graph that has an edge from x to y for every pair (x, y) with ${\displaystyle x\leq y.}$ However, many different graphs may have the same reachability preorder as each other. In the same way, reachability of directed acyclic graphs, directed graphs with no cycles, gives rise to partially ordered sets (preorders satisfying an additional antisymmetry property).
• The graph-minor relation in graph theory.

In computer science, one can find examples of the following preorders.

• Asymptotic order causes a preorder over functions ${\displaystyle f:\mathbb {N} \to \mathbb {N} }$. The corresponding equivalence relation is called asymptotic equivalence.
• Polynomial-time, many-one (mapping) and Turing reductions are preorders on complexity classes.
• Subtyping relations are usually preorders.[3]
• Simulation preorders are preorders (hence the name).
• Reduction relations in abstract rewriting systems.
• The encompassment preorder on the set of terms, defined by ${\displaystyle s\leq t}$ if a subterm of t is a substitution instance of s.
• Theta-subsumption,[4] which is when the literals in a disjunctive first-order formula are contained by another, after applying a substitution to the former.

Further examples:

• Every finite topological space gives rise to a preorder on its points by defining ${\displaystyle x\leq y}$ if and only if x belongs to every neighborhood of y. Every finite preorder can be formed as the specialization preorder of a topological space in this way. That is, there is a one-to-one correspondence between finite topologies and finite preorders. However, the relation between infinite topological spaces and their specialization preorders is not one-to-one.

• A net is a directed preorder, that is, each pair of elements has an upper bound. The definition of convergence via nets is important in topology, where preorders cannot be replaced by partially ordered sets without losing important features.

• The relation defined by ${\displaystyle x\leq y}$ if ${\displaystyle f(x)\leq f(y),}$ where f is a function into some preorder.
• The relation defined by ${\displaystyle x\leq y}$ if there exists some injection from x to y. Injection may be replaced by surjection, or any type of structure-preserving function, such as ring homomorphism, or permutation.
• The embedding relation for countable total orderings.
• A category with at most one morphism from any object x to any other object y is a preorder. Such categories are called thin. In this sense, categories "generalize" preorders by allowing more than one relation between objects: each morphism is a distinct (named) preorder relation.

Example of a total preorder:

• Preference, according to common models.

Given a preorder ${\displaystyle \,\lesssim \,}$ on ${\displaystyle S}$ one may define an equivalence relation ${\displaystyle \,\sim \,}$ on ${\displaystyle S}$ such that

$${\displaystyle a\sim b\quad {\text{ if and only if }}\quad a\lesssim b\;{\text{ and }}\;b\lesssim a.}$$

The resulting relation ${\displaystyle \,\sim \,}$ is reflexive since the preorder ${\displaystyle \,\lesssim \,}$ is reflexive; transitive by applying the transitivity of ${\displaystyle \,\lesssim \,}$ twice; and symmetric by definition.

Using this relation, it is possible to construct a partial order on the quotient set of the equivalence, ${\displaystyle S/\sim ,}$ which is the set of all equivalence classes of ${\displaystyle \,\sim .}$ If the preorder is denoted by ${\displaystyle R^{+=},}$ then ${\displaystyle S/\sim }$ is the set of ${\displaystyle R}$-cycle equivalence classes: ${\displaystyle x\in [y]}$ if and only if ${\displaystyle x=y}$ or ${\displaystyle x}$ is in an ${\displaystyle R}$-cycle with ${\displaystyle y}$ In any case, on ${\displaystyle S/\sim }$ it is possible to define ${\displaystyle [x]\leq [y]}$ if and only if ${\displaystyle x\lesssim y.}$ That this is well-defined, meaning that its defining condition does not depend on which representatives of ${\displaystyle [x]}$ and ${\displaystyle [y]}$ are chosen, follows from the definition of ${\displaystyle \,\sim .\,}$ It is readily verified that this yields a partially ordered set.

Conversely, from any partial order on a partition of a set ${\displaystyle S,}$ it is possible to construct a preorder on ${\displaystyle S}$ itself. There is a one-to-one correspondence between preorders and pairs (partition, partial order).

Example: Let ${\displaystyle S}$ be a formal theory, which is a set of sentences with certain properties (details of which can be found in the article on the subject). For instance, ${\displaystyle S}$ could be a first-order theory (like Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory) or a simpler zeroth-order theory. One of the many properties of ${\displaystyle S}$ is that it is closed under logical consequences so that, for instance, if a sentence ${\displaystyle A\in S}$ logically implies some sentence ${\displaystyle B,}$ which will be written as ${\displaystyle A\Rightarrow B}$ and also as ${\displaystyle B\Leftarrow A,}$ then necessarily ${\displaystyle B\in S}$ (by modus ponens). The relation ${\displaystyle \,\Leftarrow \,}$ is a preorder on ${\displaystyle S}$ because ${\displaystyle A\Leftarrow A}$ always holds and whenever ${\displaystyle A\Leftarrow B}$ and ${\displaystyle B\Leftarrow C}$ both hold then so does ${\displaystyle A\Leftarrow C.}$ Furthermore, for any ${\displaystyle A,B\in S,}$ ${\displaystyle A\sim B}$ if and only if ${\displaystyle A\Leftarrow B{\text{ and }}B\Leftarrow A}$; that is, two sentences are equivalent with respect to ${\displaystyle \,\Leftarrow \,}$ if and only if they are logically equivalent. This particular equivalence relation ${\displaystyle A\sim B}$ is commonly denoted with its own special symbol ${\displaystyle A\iff B,}$ and so this symbol ${\displaystyle \,\iff \,}$ may be used instead of ${\displaystyle \,\sim .}$ The equivalence class of a sentence ${\displaystyle A,}$ denoted by ${\displaystyle [A],}$ consists of all sentences ${\displaystyle B\in S}$ that are logically equivalent to ${\displaystyle A}$ (that is, all ${\displaystyle B\in S}$ such that ${\displaystyle A\iff B}$). The partial order on ${\displaystyle S/\sim }$ induced by ${\displaystyle \,\Leftarrow ,\,}$ which will also be denoted by the same symbol ${\displaystyle \,\Leftarrow ,\,}$ is characterized by ${\displaystyle [A]\Leftarrow [B]}$ if and only if ${\displaystyle A\Leftarrow B,}$ where the right hand side condition is independent of the choice of representatives ${\displaystyle A\in [A]}$ and ${\displaystyle B\in [B]}$ of the equivalence classes. All that has been said of ${\displaystyle \,\Leftarrow \,}$ so far can also be said of its converse relation ${\displaystyle \,\Rightarrow .\,}$ The preordered set ${\displaystyle (S,\Leftarrow )}$ is a directed set because if ${\displaystyle A,B\in S}$ and if ${\displaystyle C:=A\wedge B}$ denotes the sentence formed by logical conjunction ${\displaystyle \,\wedge ,\,}$ then ${\displaystyle A\Leftarrow C}$ and ${\displaystyle B\Leftarrow C}$ where ${\displaystyle C\in S.}$ The partially ordered set ${\displaystyle \left(S/\sim ,\Leftarrow \right)}$ is consequently also a directed set. See Lindenbaum–Tarski algebra for a related example.

Strict preorder induced by a preorder

Given a preorder ${\displaystyle \,\lesssim ,}$ a new relation ${\displaystyle \,<\,}$ can be defined by declaring that ${\displaystyle a<b}$ if and only if ${\displaystyle a\lesssim b{\text{ and not }}b\lesssim a.}$ Using the equivalence relation ${\displaystyle \,\sim \,}$ introduced above, ${\displaystyle a<b}$ if and only if ${\displaystyle a\lesssim b{\text{ and not }}a\sim b;}$ and so the following holds

$${\displaystyle a\lesssim b\quad {\text{ if and only if }}\quad a<b\;{\text{ or }}\;a\sim b.}$$

The relation ${\displaystyle \,<\,}$ is a strict partial order and every strict partial order can be constructed this way. If the preorder ${\displaystyle \,\lesssim \,}$ is antisymmetric (and thus a partial order) then the equivalence ${\displaystyle \,\sim \,}$ is equality (that is, ${\displaystyle a\sim b}$ if and only if ${\displaystyle a=b}$) and so in this case, the definition of ${\displaystyle \,<\,}$ can be restated as:

$${\displaystyle a<b\quad {\text{ if and only if }}\quad a\leq b\;{\text{ and }}\;a\neq b\quad \quad ({\text{assuming }}\lesssim {\text{ is antisymmetric}}).}$$

But importantly, this new condition is not used as (nor is it equivalent to) the general definition of the relation ${\displaystyle \,<\,}$ (that is, ${\displaystyle \,<\,}$ is not defined as: ${\displaystyle a<b}$ if and only if ${\displaystyle a\lesssim b{\text{ and }}a\neq b}$) because if the preorder ${\displaystyle \,\lesssim \,}$ is not antisymmetric then the resulting relation ${\displaystyle \,<\,}$ would not be transitive (consider how equivalent non-equal elements relate). This is the reason for using the symbol "${\displaystyle \lesssim }$" instead of the "less than or equal to" symbol "${\displaystyle \leq }$", which might cause confusion for a preorder that is not antisymmetric since it might misleadingly suggest that ${\displaystyle a\leq b}$ implies ${\displaystyle a<b{\text{ or }}a=b.}$

Preorders induced by a strict preorder

Using the construction above, multiple non-strict preorders can produce the same strict preorder ${\displaystyle \,<,\,}$ so without more information about how ${\displaystyle \,<\,}$ was constructed (such knowledge of the equivalence relation ${\displaystyle \,\sim \,}$ for instance), it might not be possible to reconstruct the original non-strict preorder from ${\displaystyle \,<.\,}$ Possible (non-strict) preorders that induce the given strict preorder ${\displaystyle \,<\,}$ include the following:

• Define ${\displaystyle a\leq b}$ as ${\displaystyle a<b{\text{ or }}a=b}$ (that is, take the reflexive closure of the relation). This gives the partial order associated with the strict partial order "${\displaystyle <}$" through reflexive closure; in this case the equivalence is equality ${\displaystyle \,=,}$ so the symbols ${\displaystyle \,\lesssim \,}$ and ${\displaystyle \,\sim \,}$ are not needed.
• Define ${\displaystyle a\lesssim b}$ as "${\displaystyle {\text{ not }}b<a}$" (that is, take the inverse complement of the relation), which corresponds to defining ${\displaystyle a\sim b}$ as "neither ${\displaystyle a<b{\text{ nor }}b<a}$"; these relations ${\displaystyle \,\lesssim \,}$ and ${\displaystyle \,\sim \,}$ are in general not transitive; however, if they are then ${\displaystyle \,\sim \,}$ is an equivalence; in that case "${\displaystyle <}$" is a strict weak order. The resulting preorder is connected (formerly called total); that is, a total preorder.

If ${\displaystyle a\leq b}$ then ${\displaystyle a\lesssim b.}$ The converse holds (that is, ${\displaystyle \,\lesssim \;\;=\;\;\leq \,}$) if and only if whenever ${\displaystyle a\neq b}$ then ${\displaystyle a<b}$ or ${\displaystyle b<a.}$