Supremum and Infimum

Upper Bound and Supremum

Let S be a partially ordered set, and let A be a subset of S.
An element m in S is called an upper bound of A if m
succeeds every element of A, that is, for every x ϵ A, we
have
x≤m
If an upper bound of A precedes every other upper bound
of A, then it is called the supremum of A and it is
denoted by sup(A).
Lower Bound and Infimum
Let S be a partially ordered set, and let A be a subset of S.
An element n in S is called a lower bound of A if n
precedes every element of A, that is, for every y ϵ A, we
have
y≥n
If a lower bound of A succeeds every other lower bound
of A, then it is called the infimum of A and it is denoted
by inf(A).
Bounded Above and Bounded Below
If A has an upper bound we say A is bounded above, and
if A has a lower bound we say A is bounded below. In
particular, A is bounded if A has an upper and lower
bound.
Example 1
Let S = {a, b, c, d, e, f} be ordered as in the Hasse
diagram below and let A = {b, c, d}.
Example 2
Let S = {1, 2, 3, …, 8} be ordered as in the Hasse
diagram below and let A = {4, 5, 7}.
Example 3
Consider the set Q of rational numbers, and its subset