Lattices

By
Kali Prasad Rath
Lattices:
Example:
• Example:
• Bounded Lattice
A lattice L becomes a bounded lattice if it has a greatest
element 1 and a least element 0.
• Complemented Lattice
A lattice L becomes a complemented lattice if it is a
bounded lattice and if every element in the lattice has a
complement. An element x has a complement x’
if x(x x′=0andx x′=1)
• Distributive Lattice
If a lattice satisfies the following two distribute
properties, it is called a distributive lattice.
1. a (b c)=(a b) (a c)
2. a (b c)=(a b) (a c)
• Modular Lattice
If a lattice satisfies the following property, it is called
modular lattice.
a (b (a d))=(a b) (a d)
• Example:
The power set P (S) of the set S under the operation
of intersection and union is a distributive function.
Since,
a ∩ (b c) = (a ∩ b) (a ∩ c)
and, also a (b ∩ c) = (a b) ∩ (a c) for
any sets a, b and c of P(S).
• The lattice shown in fig below is a distributive.
Since, it satisfies the distributive properties for all
ordered triples which are taken from 1, 2, 3, and 4.
Example: Determine the complement of a and c in
fig:

Solution: The complement of a is d. Since, a d=

1 and a d = 0
The complement of c does not exist. Since, there
does not exist any element c such that c c'=1 and c
c'= 0.
Properties of Lattices
• Idempotent Properties
a a=a
a a=a
• Absorption Properties
a (a b)=a
a (a b)=a
• Commutative Properties
a b=b a
a b=b a
Dual of a Lattice
• The dual of a lattice is obtained by interchanging
the ‘ ' and ‘ ' operations.
• Example
The dual of [a (b c)] is [a (b c)]
• Properties of Bounded Lattices:
If L is a bounded lattice, then for any element a
L, we have the following identities:
a 1=1
a 1= a
a 0=a
a 0=0
Sub-Lattices:
• Consider a non-empty subset L1 of a lattice L.
Then L1 is called a sub-lattice of L if L1 itself is a
lattice i.e., the operation of L i.e., a b L1 and a
b L1 whenever a L1 and b L1.
• Example: Consider the lattice of all +ve integers
I+ under the operation of divisibility. The lattice
Dn of all divisors of n > 1 is a sub-lattice of I+.
• Q) Determine all the sub-lattices of D30 that
contain at least four elements,
D30={1,2,3,5,6,10,15,30}.
Solution: The sub-lattices of D30 that contain at
least four elements are as follows:
1. {1, 2, 6, 30} 2. {1, 2, 3, 30}
3. {1, 5, 15, 30} 4. {1, 3, 6, 30}
5. {1, 5, 10, 30} 6. {1, 3, 15, 30}
7. {2, 6, 10, 30}
Boolean Algebra:
• A complemented distributive lattice is known as a
Boolean Algebra. It is denoted by (B, , ,',0,1),
where B is a set on which two binary operations
(*) and (+) and a unary operation (complement)
are defined. Here 0 and 1 are two distinct
elements of B.
• Since (B, , ) is a complemented distributive
lattice, therefore each element of B has a unique
complement.