Let A = {1, 2, 3} and B = {x, y}. What is the total number of non-empty relations that can be defined from set A to set B?

Model Answer & Options

Source: Extra Practice

64

63

6

5

Explanation

A relation from set A to set B is any subset of the Cartesian product A × B. First, we find the number of elements in A × B: n(A × B) = n(A) × n(B) = 3 × 2 = 6. The total number of subsets (and thus total relations) is 2^n, where n is the number of elements in the Cartesian product. So, total relations = 2^6 = 64. The question specifically asks for 'non-empty' relations. Since the empty set (null relation) is a subset of every set, we must subtract that one case. Therefore, 64 - 1 = 63. Option A is incorrect because it includes the empty relation. Option C represents only the number of elements in the Cartesian product, not the number of relations. Option D is simply n(A)+n(B), which is irrelevant to the count of relations.

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