Review - Lattices

• Definitions: A poset < X, ≤ > in which every pair of elements has

both a supremum and an infimum is called a lattice. We will use the
notation x∨y for sup {x,y} - called x join y – and x∧y for inf {x,y} -
called x meet y. If a poset P = < X, ≤ > is also a lattice, we may
refer to it as L = <X, ∨, ∧ >.
• Proposition 9: For any a, b,c, d in a lattice < X, ≤ >, we have:
a) a ≤ a∨b and a∧b ≤ a
b) If a ≤ b and c ≤ d, then a∨c ≤ b∨d and a∧c ≤ b∧d.
• Proposition 10: Let < X, ≤ > be a lattice. Then, for all a,b ∈ X :
a) The associative property holds for both join and meet
b) The commutative property holds for both join and meet
c) Idempotent properties: a∨a = a and a∧a = a
d) Absorptive properties: a∨(a∧b) = a and a∧(a∨b) = a.

 Distributive Lattices
• Remark: However, the two distributive properties:
i. a∨(b∧c) = (a∨b) ∧ (a∨c)
ii. a∧(b∨c) = (a∧b) ∨ (a∧c)
do not necessarily hold in an arbitrary lattice (see example).
• Definition: A lattice L = < X, ≤ > is said to be distributive if the
above two statements hold for all a, b, c ∈ X.
• Remark: Testing whether a given lattice is distributive is
simplified by the following result.
• Proposition 11: Let L = < X, ≤ > be a lattice. Then:
a) If i. above holds in L, then ii. above holds in L.
b) If ii. above holds in L, then i. above holds in L.
In other words, for lattices, any one of the two distributive properties
implies the other.
• Proof: b) was proved in class; a) follows by duality.

 Complements in Lattices - 1
• Introduction: Recall that an element u in a poset < X, ≤ >
is said to be a smallest element if u ≤ x for all x ∈ X.
Similarly, an element v ∈ X is said to be a largest
element if x ≤ v for all x ∈ X. Smallest and largest
elements are unique if they exist. If < X, ≤ > is a lattice,
we will use the symbols 0 and 1 for the smallest and
largest elements respectively. Note that a finite lattice
must have 0 and 1 (PROVE ! In Thursday’s Tutorial.).
• Proposition 12: Let L = < X, ≤ > be a lattice with 0 and
1. Then, the following hold for all a ∈ X:
a) a ∨ 1 = 1 and a ∧ 1 = a
b) a ∨ 0 = a and a ∧ 0 = 0.
• Proof: Straightforward calculation - left as an exercise.

 Complements in Lattices - 2
• Definition: Let L = < X, ≤ > be a lattice with 0 and 1. An element
u ∈ X is said to be a complement of an element x ∈ X if x ∨ u = 1
and x ∧ u = 0. Note that complements need not exist at all, and
need not be unique even if they do exist. Note also that if v is a
complement of u, then u is a complement of v (because of the
commutative property). In particular, 0 is the unique complement of
1 and vice versa.
• Proposition 13: In a distributive lattice, if an element has
a complement, the complement must be unique.
• Proof: Proved in class.
• Definition: A lattice L = < X, ≤ > is said to be
complemented if every element x ∈ X has a
complement. Note that the definition of a complemented
lattice requires that it must have 0 and 1.

 Boolean Lattices and Algebras - 1

• Definition: A complemented and distributive lattice L = <
X, ≤ > is also called a Boolean lattice.
• Discussion: In a Boolean lattice, apart from the join and
meet operations, which are binary operations, we also
have a unary operation, namely complementation: for
every x ∈ X, we have its unique complement, usually
denoted by x. In short, a Boolean lattice also is an
algebraic system <X, ∨, ∧, >, called a Boolean
algebra. You may already be familiar with Boolean
algebras; however, we will not define Boolean algebras in
a purely algebraic way. We will simply state that a
Boolean algebra is the algebraic system given by a
Boolean lattice.

 Boolean Lattices and Algebras - 2

• Example: Let X be a set. Then the poset <P(X), ⊆ > defines a
Boolean lattice, < P(X), ∪, ∩, >, and consequently, a Boolean
algebra.
• Remark: In the above, if X is a finite set, with |X| = n, then as we
know, |P(X)| = 2n. The importance of the above example is
established by the following result.
• Theorem 3 (Uniqueness of Boolean Lattices): Let B = <X, ≤ > be
a finite Boolean lattice with associated Boolean algebra <X, ∨, ∧,
>. Then there exists a finite set S such that B is isomorphic to
<P(S), ⊆ > with associated Boolean lattice < P(S), ∪, ∩, >. In
particular, |X| = 2n, where n = |S|.
• Remark: The proof is long and will be omitted. The infinite version
of this result, known as the Stone Representation Theorem, is a
deep and powerful result, which is, however, beyond our scope.