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NAME

       sofs - Functions for Manipulating Sets of Sets

DESCRIPTION

       The  sofs  module  implements operations on finite sets and relations represented as sets. Intuitively, a
       set is a collection of elements; every element belongs to the set, and the set contains every element.

       Given a set A and a sentence S(x), where x is a free variable, a new set B  whose  elements  are  exactly
       those  elements  of  A for which S(x) holds can be formed, this is denoted B = {x in A : S(x)}. Sentences
       are expressed using the logical operators "for some" (or "there exists"), "for all", "and", "or",  "not".
       If  the  existence of a set containing all the specified elements is known (as will always be the case in
       this module), we write B = {x : S(x)}.

       The unordered set containing the elements a, b and c is denoted {a, b, c}. This notation  is  not  to  be
       confused  with  tuples.  The ordered pair of a and b, with first coordinate a and second coordinate b, is
       denoted (a, b). An ordered pair is an ordered set of two  elements.  In  this  module  ordered  sets  can
       contain  one,  two or more elements, and parentheses are used to enclose the elements. Unordered sets and
       ordered sets are orthogonal, again in this module; there is no unordered set equal to any ordered set.

       The set that contains no elements is called the empty set. If two sets A and B contain the same elements,
       then  A  is  equal  to  B,  denoted  A = B. Two ordered sets are equal if they contain the same number of
       elements and have equal elements at each coordinate. If a set A contains all elements  that  B  contains,
       then  B is a subset of A. The union of two sets A and B is the smallest set that contains all elements of
       A and all elements of B. The intersection of two sets A and B is the set that contains all elements of  A
       that  belong  to  B.  Two sets are disjoint if their intersection is the empty set. The difference of two
       sets A and B is the set that contains all elements of A that do not belong to B. The symmetric difference
       of  two  sets is the set that contains those element that belong to either of the two sets, but not both.
       The union of a collection of sets is the smallest set that contains all the elements that  belong  to  at
       least  one  set  of  the  collection.  The intersection of a non-empty collection of sets is the set that
       contains all elements that belong to every set of the collection.

       The Cartesian product of two sets X and Y, denoted X x Y, is the set {a : a = (x, y) for some x in X  and
       for some y in Y}. A relation is a subset of X x Y. Let R be a relation. The fact that (x, y) belongs to R
       is written as x R y. Since relations are sets, the definitions of the last paragraph (subset, union,  and
       so on) apply to relations as well. The domain of R is the set {x : x R y for some y in Y}. The range of R
       is the set {y : x R y for some x in X}. The converse of R is the set {a : a = (y, x) for some (x,  y)  in
       R}.  If  A is a subset of X, then the image of A under R is the set {y : x R y for some x in A}, and if B
       is a subset of Y, then the inverse image of B is the set {x : x R y for some y in B}. If R is a  relation
       from  X to Y and S is a relation from Y to Z, then the relative product of R and S is the relation T from
       X to Z defined so that x T z if and only if there exists an element y in Y such that x R y and y S z. The
       restriction  of  R  to A is the set S defined so that x S y if and only if there exists an element x in A
       such that x R y. If S is a restriction of R to A, then R is an extension of S to X. If X = Y then we call
       R  a relation in X. The field of a relation R in X is the union of the domain of R and the range of R. If
       R is a relation in X, and if S is defined so that x S y if x R y and not x = y,  then  S  is  the  strict
       relation  corresponding  to R, and vice versa, if S is a relation in X, and if R is defined so that x R y
       if x S y or x = y, then R is the weak relation corresponding to S. A relation R in X is reflexive if x  R
       x  for  every  element x of X; it is symmetric if x R y implies that y R x; and it is transitive if x R y
       and y R z imply that x R z.

       A function F is a relation, a subset of X x Y, such that the domain of F is equal to X and such that  for
       every x in X there is a unique element y in Y with (x, y) in F. The latter condition can be formulated as
       follows: if x F y and x F z then y = z. In this module, it will not be required that the domain of  F  be
       equal  to X for a relation to be considered a function. Instead of writing (x, y) in F or x F y, we write
       F(x) = y when F is a function, and say that F maps x onto y, or that the value of F  at  x  is  y.  Since
       functions  are  relations,  the  definitions  of  the  last paragraph (domain, range, and so on) apply to
       functions as well. If the converse of a function F is a function F', then F' is called the inverse of  F.
       The  relative  product of two functions F1 and F2 is called the composite of F1 and F2 if the range of F1
       is a subset of the domain of F2.

       Sometimes, when the range of a function is more important than  the  function  itself,  the  function  is
       called a family. The domain of a family is called the index set, and the range is called the indexed set.
       If x is a family from I to X, then x[i] denotes the value of the function at index  i.  The  notation  "a
       family in X" is used for such a family. When the indexed set is a set of subsets of a set X, then we call
       x a family of subsets of X. If x is a family of subsets of X, then the union of the range of x is  called
       the union of the family x. If x is non-empty (the index set is non-empty), the intersection of the family
       x is the intersection of the range of x. In this module, the only families that will  be  considered  are
       families  of  subsets of some set X; in the following the word "family" will be used for such families of
       subsets.

       A partition of a set X is a collection S of non-empty subsets of X whose union is X  and  whose  elements
       are  pairwise  disjoint. A relation in a set is an equivalence relation if it is reflexive, symmetric and
       transitive. If R is an equivalence relation in X, and x is an element of X, the equivalence  class  of  x
       with  respect to R is the set of all those elements y of X for which x R y holds. The equivalence classes
       constitute a partitioning of X. Conversely, if C is a partition of X, then the relation  that  holds  for
       any two elements of X if they belong to the same equivalence class, is an equivalence relation induced by
       the partition C. If R is an equivalence relation in X, then the canonical map is the function  that  maps
       every element of X onto its equivalence class.

       Relations  as  defined  above  (as  sets  of  ordered  pairs)  will  from now on be referred to as binary
       relations. We call a set of ordered sets (x[1], ..., x[n]) an (n-ary) relation, and say that the relation
       is a subset of the Cartesian product X[1] x ... x X[n] where x[i] is an element of X[i], 1 <= i <= n. The
       projection of an n-ary relation R onto coordinate i is the set {x[i] : (x[1], ..., x[i], ..., x[n]) in  R
       for  some x[j] in X[j], 1 <= j <= n and not i = j}. The projections of a binary relation R onto the first
       and second coordinates are the domain and the range of R respectively. The  relative  product  of  binary
       relations can be generalized to n-ary relations as follows. Let TR be an ordered set (R[1], ..., R[n]) of
       binary relations from X to Y[i] and S a binary relation from (Y[1] x ...  x  Y[n])  to  Z.  The  relative
       product  of  TR  and  S  is  the binary relation T from X to Z defined so that x T z if and only if there
       exists an element y[i] in Y[i] for each 1 <= i <= n such that x R[i] y[i] and (y[1], ..., y[n]) S z.  Now
       let TR be a an ordered set (R[1], ..., R[n]) of binary relations from X[i] to Y[i] and S a subset of X[1]
       x ... x X[n]. The multiple relative product of TR and S is defined to be the set {z : z  =  ((x[1],  ...,
       x[n]),  (y[1],...,y[n])) for some (x[1], ..., x[n]) in S and for some (x[i], y[i]) in R[i], 1 <= i <= n}.
       The natural join of an n-ary relation R and an m-ary relation S on coordinate i and j is  defined  to  be
       the  set {z : z = (x[1], ..., x[n], y[1], ..., y[j-1], y[j+1], ..., y[m]) for some (x[1], ..., x[n]) in R
       and for some (y[1], ..., y[m]) in S such that x[i] = y[j]}.

       The sets recognized by this module will be represented by elements of the relation Sets, defined  as  the
       smallest set such that:

         * for every atom T except '_' and for every term X, (T, X) belongs to Sets (atomic sets);

         * (['_'], []) belongs to Sets (the untyped empty set);

         * for  every  tuple  T  =  {T[1], ..., T[n]} and for every tuple X = {X[1], ..., X[n]}, if (T[i], X[i])
           belongs to Sets for every 1 <= i <= n then (T, X) belongs to Sets (ordered sets);

         * for every term T, if X is the empty list or  a  non-empty  sorted  list  [X[1],  ...,  X[n]]  without
           duplicates  such  that (T, X[i]) belongs to Sets for every 1 <= i <= n, then ([T], X) belongs to Sets
           (typed unordered sets).

       An external set is an element of the range of Sets. A type is an element of the domain of Sets. If  S  is
       an  element (T, X) of Sets, then T is a valid type of X, T is the type of S, and X is the external set of
       S. from_term/2 creates a set from a type and an Erlang term turned into an external set.

       The actual sets represented by Sets are the elements of the range of the function Set from Sets to Erlang
       terms and sets of Erlang terms:

         * Set(T,Term) = Term, where T is an atom;

         * Set({T[1], ..., T[n]}, {X[1], ..., X[n]}) = (Set(T[1], X[1]), ..., Set(T[n], X[n]));

         * Set([T], [X[1], ..., X[n]]) = {Set(T, X[1]), ..., Set(T, X[n])};

         * Set([T], []) = {}.

       When there is no risk of confusion, elements of Sets will be identified with the sets they represent. For
       instance, if U is the result of calling union/2 with S1 and S2 as arguments, then U is  said  to  be  the
       union of S1 and S2. A more precise formulation would be that Set(U) is the union of Set(S1) and Set(S2).

       The types are used to implement the various conditions that sets need to fulfill. As an example, consider
       the relative product of two sets R and S, and recall that the relative product of R and S is defined if R
       is  a  binary  relation to Y and S is a binary relation from Y. The function that implements the relative
       product, relative_product/2, checks that the arguments represent binary  relations  by  matching  [{A,B}]
       against  the  type  of the first argument (Arg1 say), and [{C,D}] against the type of the second argument
       (Arg2 say). The fact that [{A,B}] matches the type of Arg1 is to be interpreted as  Arg1  representing  a
       binary relation from X to Y, where X is defined as all sets Set(x) for some element x in Sets the type of
       which is A, and similarly for Y. In the same way Arg2 is interpreted as representing  a  binary  relation
       from  W to Z. Finally it is checked that B matches C, which is sufficient to ensure that W is equal to Y.
       The untyped empty set is handled separately: its type, ['_'], matches the type of any unordered set.

       A few functions of this module  (drestriction/3,  family_projection/2,  partition/2,  partition_family/2,
       projection/2,  restriction/3, substitution/2) accept an Erlang function as a means to modify each element
       of a given unordered set. Such a function, called  SetFun  in  the  following,  can  be  specified  as  a
       functional object (fun), a tuple {external, Fun}, or an integer. If SetFun is specified as a fun, the fun
       is applied to each element of the given set and the return value is assumed to be a  set.  If  SetFun  is
       specified as a tuple {external, Fun}, Fun is applied to the external set of each element of the given set
       and the return value is assumed to be an external set. Selecting the elements  of  an  unordered  set  as
       external  sets  and  assembling  a  new  unordered  set  from  a  list of external sets is in the present
       implementation more efficient than modifying each element as a set. However, this optimization  can  only
       be  utilized  when the elements of the unordered set are atomic or ordered sets. It must also be the case
       that the type of the elements matches some clause of Fun (the type of the created set is  the  result  of
       applying  Fun  to  the  type  of  the given set), and that Fun does nothing but selecting, duplicating or
       rearranging parts of the elements. Specifying a SetFun as  an  integer  I  is  equivalent  to  specifying
       {external, fun(X) -> element(I, X) end}, but is to be preferred since it makes it possible to handle this
       case even more efficiently. Examples of SetFuns:

       fun sofs:union/1
       fun(S) -> sofs:partition(1, S) end
       {external, fun(A) -> A end}
       {external, fun({A,_,C}) -> {C,A} end}
       {external, fun({_,{_,C}}) -> C end}
       {external, fun({_,{_,{_,E}=C}}) -> {E,{E,C}} end}
       2

       The order in which a SetFun is applied to the elements of an unordered set  is  not  specified,  and  may
       change in future versions of sofs.

       The  execution time of the functions of this module is dominated by the time it takes to sort lists. When
       no sorting is needed, the execution time is in the worst case proportional to the sum of the sizes of the
       input  arguments  and  the  returned  value.  A  few  functions  execute in constant time: from_external,
       is_empty_set, is_set, is_sofs_set, to_external, type.

       The functions of this module exit the process with a badarg, bad_function, or type_mismatch message  when
       given badly formed arguments or sets the types of which are not compatible.

       When comparing external sets the operator ==/2 is used.

DATA TYPES

       anyset() = ordset() | a_set()

              Any kind of set (also included are the atomic sets).

       binary_relation() = relation()

              A binary relation.

       external_set() = term()

              An external set.

       family() = a_function()

              A family (of subsets).

       a_function() = relation()

              A function.

       ordset()

              An ordered set.

       relation() = a_set()

              An n-ary relation.

       a_set()

              An unordered set.

       set_of_sets() = a_set()

              An unordered set of unordered sets.

       set_fun() = integer() >= 1
                 | {external, fun((external_set()) -> external_set())}
                 | fun((anyset()) -> anyset())

              A SetFun.

       spec_fun() = {external, fun((external_set()) -> boolean())}
                  | fun((anyset()) -> boolean())

       type() = term()

              A type.

       tuple_of(T)

              A tuple where the elements are of type T.

EXPORTS

       a_function(Tuples) -> Function

       a_function(Tuples, Type) -> Function

              Types:

                 Function = a_function()
                 Tuples = [tuple()]
                 Type = type()

              Creates  a  function.  a_function(F,  T)  is  equivalent  to  from_term(F,  T), if the result is a
              function. If no type is explicitly given, [{atom, atom}] is used as type of the function.

       canonical_relation(SetOfSets) -> BinRel

              Types:

                 BinRel = binary_relation()
                 SetOfSets = set_of_sets()

              Returns the binary relation containing the elements (E, Set) such that Set  belongs  to  SetOfSets
              and  E belongs to Set. If SetOfSets is a partition of a set X and R is the equivalence relation in
              X induced by SetOfSets, then  the  returned  relation  is  the  canonical  map  from  X  onto  the
              equivalence classes with respect to R.

              1> Ss = sofs:from_term([[a,b],[b,c]]),
              CR = sofs:canonical_relation(Ss),
              sofs:to_external(CR).
              [{a,[a,b]},{b,[a,b]},{b,[b,c]},{c,[b,c]}]

       composite(Function1, Function2) -> Function3

              Types:

                 Function1 = Function2 = Function3 = a_function()

              Returns the composite of the functions Function1 and Function2.

              1> F1 = sofs:a_function([{a,1},{b,2},{c,2}]),
              F2 = sofs:a_function([{1,x},{2,y},{3,z}]),
              F = sofs:composite(F1, F2),
              sofs:to_external(F).
              [{a,x},{b,y},{c,y}]

       constant_function(Set, AnySet) -> Function

              Types:

                 AnySet = anyset()
                 Function = a_function()
                 Set = a_set()

              Creates the function that maps each element of the set Set onto AnySet.

              1> S = sofs:set([a,b]),
              E = sofs:from_term(1),
              R = sofs:constant_function(S, E),
              sofs:to_external(R).
              [{a,1},{b,1}]

       converse(BinRel1) -> BinRel2

              Types:

                 BinRel1 = BinRel2 = binary_relation()

              Returns the converse of the binary relation BinRel1.

              1> R1 = sofs:relation([{1,a},{2,b},{3,a}]),
              R2 = sofs:converse(R1),
              sofs:to_external(R2).
              [{a,1},{a,3},{b,2}]

       difference(Set1, Set2) -> Set3

              Types:

                 Set1 = Set2 = Set3 = a_set()

              Returns the difference of the sets Set1 and Set2.

       digraph_to_family(Graph) -> Family

       digraph_to_family(Graph, Type) -> Family

              Types:

                 Graph = digraph()
                 Family = family()
                 Type = type()

              Creates  a  family  from the directed graph Graph. Each vertex a of Graph is represented by a pair
              (a, {b[1], ..., b[n]}) where the b[i]'s are the out-neighbours of a.  If  no  type  is  explicitly
              given,  [{atom, [atom]}] is used as type of the family. It is assumed that Type is a valid type of
              the external set of the family.

              If G is a directed graph, it holds that the vertices and edges of G are the same as  the  vertices
              and edges of family_to_digraph(digraph_to_family(G)).

       domain(BinRel) -> Set

              Types:

                 BinRel = binary_relation()
                 Set = a_set()

              Returns the domain of the binary relation BinRel.

              1> R = sofs:relation([{1,a},{1,b},{2,b},{2,c}]),
              S = sofs:domain(R),
              sofs:to_external(S).
              [1,2]

       drestriction(BinRel1, Set) -> BinRel2

              Types:

                 BinRel1 = BinRel2 = binary_relation()
                 Set = a_set()

              Returns the difference between the binary relation BinRel1 and the restriction of BinRel1 to Set.

              1> R1 = sofs:relation([{1,a},{2,b},{3,c}]),
              S = sofs:set([2,4,6]),
              R2 = sofs:drestriction(R1, S),
              sofs:to_external(R2).
              [{1,a},{3,c}]

              drestriction(R, S) is equivalent to difference(R, restriction(R, S)).

       drestriction(SetFun, Set1, Set2) -> Set3

              Types:

                 SetFun = set_fun()
                 Set1 = Set2 = Set3 = a_set()

              Returns  a  subset  of  Set1 containing those elements that do not yield an element in Set2 as the
              result of applying SetFun.

              1> SetFun = {external, fun({_A,B,C}) -> {B,C} end},
              R1 = sofs:relation([{a,aa,1},{b,bb,2},{c,cc,3}]),
              R2 = sofs:relation([{bb,2},{cc,3},{dd,4}]),
              R3 = sofs:drestriction(SetFun, R1, R2),
              sofs:to_external(R3).
              [{a,aa,1}]

              drestriction(F, S1, S2) is equivalent to difference(S1, restriction(F, S1, S2)).

       empty_set() -> Set

              Types:

                 Set = a_set()

              Returns the untyped empty set. empty_set() is equivalent to from_term([], ['_']).

       extension(BinRel1, Set, AnySet) -> BinRel2

              Types:

                 AnySet = anyset()
                 BinRel1 = BinRel2 = binary_relation()
                 Set = a_set()

              Returns the extension of BinRel1 such that for each element E in Set that does not belong  to  the
              domain of BinRel1, BinRel2 contains the pair (E, AnySet).

              1> S = sofs:set([b,c]),
              A = sofs:empty_set(),
              R = sofs:family([{a,[1,2]},{b,[3]}]),
              X = sofs:extension(R, S, A),
              sofs:to_external(X).
              [{a,[1,2]},{b,[3]},{c,[]}]

       family(Tuples) -> Family

       family(Tuples, Type) -> Family

              Types:

                 Family = family()
                 Tuples = [tuple()]
                 Type = type()

              Creates  a  family  of  subsets. family(F, T) is equivalent to from_term(F, T), if the result is a
              family. If no type is explicitly given, [{atom, [atom]}] is used as type of the family.

       family_difference(Family1, Family2) -> Family3

              Types:

                 Family1 = Family2 = Family3 = family()

              If Family1 and Family2 are families, then Family3 is the family such that the index set  is  equal
              to the index set of Family1, and Family3[i] is the difference between Family1[i] and Family2[i] if
              Family2 maps i, Family1[i] otherwise.

              1> F1 = sofs:family([{a,[1,2]},{b,[3,4]}]),
              F2 = sofs:family([{b,[4,5]},{c,[6,7]}]),
              F3 = sofs:family_difference(F1, F2),
              sofs:to_external(F3).
              [{a,[1,2]},{b,[3]}]

       family_domain(Family1) -> Family2

              Types:

                 Family1 = Family2 = family()

              If Family1 is a family and Family1[i] is a binary relation  for  every  i  in  the  index  set  of
              Family1, then Family2 is the family with the same index set as Family1 such that Family2[i] is the
              domain of Family1[i].

              1> FR = sofs:from_term([{a,[{1,a},{2,b},{3,c}]},{b,[]},{c,[{4,d},{5,e}]}]),
              F = sofs:family_domain(FR),
              sofs:to_external(F).
              [{a,[1,2,3]},{b,[]},{c,[4,5]}]

       family_field(Family1) -> Family2

              Types:

                 Family1 = Family2 = family()

              If Family1 is a family and Family1[i] is a binary relation  for  every  i  in  the  index  set  of
              Family1, then Family2 is the family with the same index set as Family1 such that Family2[i] is the
              field of Family1[i].

              1> FR = sofs:from_term([{a,[{1,a},{2,b},{3,c}]},{b,[]},{c,[{4,d},{5,e}]}]),
              F = sofs:family_field(FR),
              sofs:to_external(F).
              [{a,[1,2,3,a,b,c]},{b,[]},{c,[4,5,d,e]}]

              family_field(Family1)      is       equivalent       to       family_union(family_domain(Family1),
              family_range(Family1)).

       family_intersection(Family1) -> Family2

              Types:

                 Family1 = Family2 = family()

              If  Family1  is  a family and Family1[i] is a set of sets for every i in the index set of Family1,
              then Family2 is the family with the same  index  set  as  Family1  such  that  Family2[i]  is  the
              intersection of Family1[i].

              If Family1[i] is an empty set for some i, then the process exits with a badarg message.

              1> F1 = sofs:from_term([{a,[[1,2,3],[2,3,4]]},{b,[[x,y,z],[x,y]]}]),
              F2 = sofs:family_intersection(F1),
              sofs:to_external(F2).
              [{a,[2,3]},{b,[x,y]}]

       family_intersection(Family1, Family2) -> Family3

              Types:

                 Family1 = Family2 = Family3 = family()

              If  Family1  and  Family2  are families, then Family3 is the family such that the index set is the
              intersection of Family1's and  Family2's  index  sets,  and  Family3[i]  is  the  intersection  of
              Family1[i] and Family2[i].

              1> F1 = sofs:family([{a,[1,2]},{b,[3,4]},{c,[5,6]}]),
              F2 = sofs:family([{b,[4,5]},{c,[7,8]},{d,[9,10]}]),
              F3 = sofs:family_intersection(F1, F2),
              sofs:to_external(F3).
              [{b,[4]},{c,[]}]

       family_projection(SetFun, Family1) -> Family2

              Types:

                 SetFun = set_fun()
                 Family1 = Family2 = family()

              If  Family1  is  a  family then Family2 is the family with the same index set as Family1 such that
              Family2[i] is the result of calling SetFun with Family1[i] as argument.

              1> F1 = sofs:from_term([{a,[[1,2],[2,3]]},{b,[[]]}]),
              F2 = sofs:family_projection(fun sofs:union/1, F1),
              sofs:to_external(F2).
              [{a,[1,2,3]},{b,[]}]

       family_range(Family1) -> Family2

              Types:

                 Family1 = Family2 = family()

              If Family1 is a family and Family1[i] is a binary relation  for  every  i  in  the  index  set  of
              Family1, then Family2 is the family with the same index set as Family1 such that Family2[i] is the
              range of Family1[i].

              1> FR = sofs:from_term([{a,[{1,a},{2,b},{3,c}]},{b,[]},{c,[{4,d},{5,e}]}]),
              F = sofs:family_range(FR),
              sofs:to_external(F).
              [{a,[a,b,c]},{b,[]},{c,[d,e]}]

       family_specification(Fun, Family1) -> Family2

              Types:

                 Fun = spec_fun()
                 Family1 = Family2 = family()

              If Family1 is a family, then Family2 is the restriction of Family1 to  those  elements  i  of  the
              index  set  for  which Fun applied to Family1[i] returns true. If Fun is a tuple {external, Fun2},
              Fun2 is applied to the external set of Family1[i], otherwise Fun is applied to Family1[i].

              1> F1 = sofs:family([{a,[1,2,3]},{b,[1,2]},{c,[1]}]),
              SpecFun = fun(S) -> sofs:no_elements(S) =:= 2 end,
              F2 = sofs:family_specification(SpecFun, F1),
              sofs:to_external(F2).
              [{b,[1,2]}]

       family_to_digraph(Family) -> Graph

       family_to_digraph(Family, GraphType) -> Graph

              Types:

                 Graph = digraph()
                 Family = family()
                 GraphType = [digraph:d_type()]

              Creates a directed graph from the family Family. For each pair (a, {b[1], ..., b[n]})  of  Family,
              the  vertex  a  as  well the edges (a, b[i]) for 1 <= i <= n are added to a newly created directed
              graph.

              If no graph type is given  digraph:new/0 is used for creating the directed  graph,  otherwise  the
              GraphType argument is passed on as second argument to digraph:new/1.

              It F is a family, it holds that F is a subset of digraph_to_family(family_to_digraph(F), type(F)).
              Equality holds if union_of_family(F) is a subset of domain(F).

              Creating a cycle in an acyclic graph exits the process with a cyclic message.

       family_to_relation(Family) -> BinRel

              Types:

                 Family = family()
                 BinRel = binary_relation()

              If Family is a family, then BinRel is the binary relation containing all pairs (i, x) such that  i
              belongs to the index set of Family and x belongs to Family[i].

              1> F = sofs:family([{a,[]}, {b,[1]}, {c,[2,3]}]),
              R = sofs:family_to_relation(F),
              sofs:to_external(R).
              [{b,1},{c,2},{c,3}]

       family_union(Family1) -> Family2

              Types:

                 Family1 = Family2 = family()

              If  Family1  is  a  family and Family1[i] is a set of sets for each i in the index set of Family1,
              then Family2 is the family with the same index set as Family1 such that Family2[i] is the union of
              Family1[i].

              1> F1 = sofs:from_term([{a,[[1,2],[2,3]]},{b,[[]]}]),
              F2 = sofs:family_union(F1),
              sofs:to_external(F2).
              [{a,[1,2,3]},{b,[]}]

              family_union(F) is equivalent to family_projection(fun sofs:union/1, F).

       family_union(Family1, Family2) -> Family3

              Types:

                 Family1 = Family2 = Family3 = family()

              If  Family1  and  Family2  are families, then Family3 is the family such that the index set is the
              union of Family1's and Family2's index sets,  and  Family3[i]  is  the  union  of  Family1[i]  and
              Family2[i] if both maps i, Family1[i] or Family2[i] otherwise.

              1> F1 = sofs:family([{a,[1,2]},{b,[3,4]},{c,[5,6]}]),
              F2 = sofs:family([{b,[4,5]},{c,[7,8]},{d,[9,10]}]),
              F3 = sofs:family_union(F1, F2),
              sofs:to_external(F3).
              [{a,[1,2]},{b,[3,4,5]},{c,[5,6,7,8]},{d,[9,10]}]

       field(BinRel) -> Set

              Types:

                 BinRel = binary_relation()
                 Set = a_set()

              Returns the field of the binary relation BinRel.

              1> R = sofs:relation([{1,a},{1,b},{2,b},{2,c}]),
              S = sofs:field(R),
              sofs:to_external(S).
              [1,2,a,b,c]

              field(R) is equivalent to union(domain(R), range(R)).

       from_external(ExternalSet, Type) -> AnySet

              Types:

                 ExternalSet = external_set()
                 AnySet = anyset()
                 Type = type()

              Creates  a  set  from the external set ExternalSet and the type Type. It is assumed that Type is a
              valid type of ExternalSet.

       from_sets(ListOfSets) -> Set

              Types:

                 Set = a_set()
                 ListOfSets = [anyset()]

              Returns the unordered set containing the sets of the list ListOfSets.

              1> S1 = sofs:relation([{a,1},{b,2}]),
              S2 = sofs:relation([{x,3},{y,4}]),
              S = sofs:from_sets([S1,S2]),
              sofs:to_external(S).
              [[{a,1},{b,2}],[{x,3},{y,4}]]

       from_sets(TupleOfSets) -> Ordset

              Types:

                 Ordset = ordset()
                 TupleOfSets = tuple_of(anyset())

              Returns the ordered set containing the sets of the non-empty tuple TupleOfSets.

       from_term(Term) -> AnySet

       from_term(Term, Type) -> AnySet

              Types:

                 AnySet = anyset()
                 Term = term()
                 Type = type()

              Creates an element of Sets by traversing the term Term, sorting  lists,  removing  duplicates  and
              deriving or verifying a valid type for the so obtained external set. An explicitly given type Type
              can be used to limit the  depth  of  the  traversal;  an  atomic  type  stops  the  traversal,  as
              demonstrated by this example where "foo" and {"foo"} are left unmodified:

              1> S = sofs:from_term([{{"foo"},[1,1]},{"foo",[2,2]}], [{atom,[atom]}]),
              sofs:to_external(S).
              [{{"foo"},[1]},{"foo",[2]}]

              from_term  can be used for creating atomic or ordered sets. The only purpose of such a set is that
              of later building unordered sets since all functions in this module that do  anything  operate  on
              unordered  sets. Creating unordered sets from a collection of ordered sets may be the way to go if
              the ordered sets are big and one does not want to waste heap by rebuilding  the  elements  of  the
              unordered set. An example showing that a set can be built "layer by layer":

              1> A = sofs:from_term(a),
              S = sofs:set([1,2,3]),
              P1 = sofs:from_sets({A,S}),
              P2 = sofs:from_term({b,[6,5,4]}),
              Ss = sofs:from_sets([P1,P2]),
              sofs:to_external(Ss).
              [{a,[1,2,3]},{b,[4,5,6]}]

              Other functions that create sets are from_external/2 and from_sets/1. Special cases of from_term/2
              are a_function/1,2, empty_set/0, family/1,2, relation/1,2, and set/1,2.

       image(BinRel, Set1) -> Set2

              Types:

                 BinRel = binary_relation()
                 Set1 = Set2 = a_set()

              Returns the image of the set Set1 under the binary relation BinRel.

              1> R = sofs:relation([{1,a},{2,b},{2,c},{3,d}]),
              S1 = sofs:set([1,2]),
              S2 = sofs:image(R, S1),
              sofs:to_external(S2).
              [a,b,c]

       intersection(SetOfSets) -> Set

              Types:

                 Set = a_set()
                 SetOfSets = set_of_sets()

              Returns the intersection of the set of sets SetOfSets.

              Intersecting an empty set of sets exits the process with a badarg message.

       intersection(Set1, Set2) -> Set3

              Types:

                 Set1 = Set2 = Set3 = a_set()

              Returns the intersection of Set1 and Set2.

       intersection_of_family(Family) -> Set

              Types:

                 Family = family()
                 Set = a_set()

              Returns the intersection of the family Family.

              Intersecting an empty family exits the process with a badarg message.

              1> F = sofs:family([{a,[0,2,4]},{b,[0,1,2]},{c,[2,3]}]),
              S = sofs:intersection_of_family(F),
              sofs:to_external(S).
              [2]

       inverse(Function1) -> Function2

              Types:

                 Function1 = Function2 = a_function()

              Returns the inverse of the function Function1.

              1> R1 = sofs:relation([{1,a},{2,b},{3,c}]),
              R2 = sofs:inverse(R1),
              sofs:to_external(R2).
              [{a,1},{b,2},{c,3}]

       inverse_image(BinRel, Set1) -> Set2

              Types:

                 BinRel = binary_relation()
                 Set1 = Set2 = a_set()

              Returns the inverse image of Set1 under the binary relation BinRel.

              1> R = sofs:relation([{1,a},{2,b},{2,c},{3,d}]),
              S1 = sofs:set([c,d,e]),
              S2 = sofs:inverse_image(R, S1),
              sofs:to_external(S2).
              [2,3]

       is_a_function(BinRel) -> Bool

              Types:

                 Bool = boolean()
                 BinRel = binary_relation()

              Returns true if the binary relation  BinRel  is  a  function  or  the  untyped  empty  set,  false
              otherwise.

       is_disjoint(Set1, Set2) -> Bool

              Types:

                 Bool = boolean()
                 Set1 = Set2 = a_set()

              Returns true if Set1 and Set2 are disjoint, false otherwise.

       is_empty_set(AnySet) -> Bool

              Types:

                 AnySet = anyset()
                 Bool = boolean()

              Returns true if AnySet is an empty unordered set, false otherwise.

       is_equal(AnySet1, AnySet2) -> Bool

              Types:

                 AnySet1 = AnySet2 = anyset()
                 Bool = boolean()

              Returns  true  if the AnySet1 and AnySet2 are equal, false otherwise. This example shows that ==/2
              is used when comparing sets for equality:

              1> S1 = sofs:set([1.0]),
              S2 = sofs:set([1]),
              sofs:is_equal(S1, S2).
              true

       is_set(AnySet) -> Bool

              Types:

                 AnySet = anyset()
                 Bool = boolean()

              Returns true if AnySet is an unordered set, and false if AnySet is an ordered  set  or  an  atomic
              set.

       is_sofs_set(Term) -> Bool

              Types:

                 Bool = boolean()
                 Term = term()

              Returns true if Term is an unordered set, an ordered set or an atomic set, false otherwise.

       is_subset(Set1, Set2) -> Bool

              Types:

                 Bool = boolean()
                 Set1 = Set2 = a_set()

              Returns true if Set1 is a subset of Set2, false otherwise.

       is_type(Term) -> Bool

              Types:

                 Bool = boolean()
                 Term = term()

              Returns true if the term Term is a type.

       join(Relation1, I, Relation2, J) -> Relation3

              Types:

                 Relation1 = Relation2 = Relation3 = relation()
                 I = J = integer() >= 1

              Returns the natural join of the relations Relation1 and Relation2 on coordinates I and J.

              1> R1 = sofs:relation([{a,x,1},{b,y,2}]),
              R2 = sofs:relation([{1,f,g},{1,h,i},{2,3,4}]),
              J = sofs:join(R1, 3, R2, 1),
              sofs:to_external(J).
              [{a,x,1,f,g},{a,x,1,h,i},{b,y,2,3,4}]

       multiple_relative_product(TupleOfBinRels, BinRel1) -> BinRel2

              Types:

                 TupleOfBinRels = tuple_of(BinRel)
                 BinRel = BinRel1 = BinRel2 = binary_relation()

              If  TupleOfBinRels  is  a  non-empty  tuple {R[1], ..., R[n]} of binary relations and BinRel1 is a
              binary relation, then BinRel2 is the multiple relative product of  the  ordered  set  (R[i],  ...,
              R[n]) and BinRel1.

              1> Ri = sofs:relation([{a,1},{b,2},{c,3}]),
              R = sofs:relation([{a,b},{b,c},{c,a}]),
              MP = sofs:multiple_relative_product({Ri, Ri}, R),
              sofs:to_external(sofs:range(MP)).
              [{1,2},{2,3},{3,1}]

       no_elements(ASet) -> NoElements

              Types:

                 ASet = a_set() | ordset()
                 NoElements = integer() >= 0

              Returns the number of elements of the ordered or unordered set ASet.

       partition(SetOfSets) -> Partition

              Types:

                 SetOfSets = set_of_sets()
                 Partition = a_set()

              Returns  the  partition  of  the  union  of  the  set of sets SetOfSets such that two elements are
              considered equal if they belong to the same elements of SetOfSets.

              1> Sets1 = sofs:from_term([[a,b,c],[d,e,f],[g,h,i]]),
              Sets2 = sofs:from_term([[b,c,d],[e,f,g],[h,i,j]]),
              P = sofs:partition(sofs:union(Sets1, Sets2)),
              sofs:to_external(P).
              [[a],[b,c],[d],[e,f],[g],[h,i],[j]]

       partition(SetFun, Set) -> Partition

              Types:

                 SetFun = set_fun()
                 Partition = Set = a_set()

              Returns the partition of Set such that two  elements  are  considered  equal  if  the  results  of
              applying SetFun are equal.

              1> Ss = sofs:from_term([[a],[b],[c,d],[e,f]]),
              SetFun = fun(S) -> sofs:from_term(sofs:no_elements(S)) end,
              P = sofs:partition(SetFun, Ss),
              sofs:to_external(P).
              [[[a],[b]],[[c,d],[e,f]]]

       partition(SetFun, Set1, Set2) -> {Set3, Set4}

              Types:

                 SetFun = set_fun()
                 Set1 = Set2 = Set3 = Set4 = a_set()

              Returns  a  pair  of  sets that, regarded as constituting a set, forms a partition of Set1. If the
              result of applying SetFun to an element of Set1 yields an element in Set2, the element belongs  to
              Set3, otherwise the element belongs to Set4.

              1> R1 = sofs:relation([{1,a},{2,b},{3,c}]),
              S = sofs:set([2,4,6]),
              {R2,R3} = sofs:partition(1, R1, S),
              {sofs:to_external(R2),sofs:to_external(R3)}.
              {[{2,b}],[{1,a},{3,c}]}

              partition(F, S1, S2) is equivalent to {restriction(F, S1, S2), drestriction(F, S1, S2)}.

       partition_family(SetFun, Set) -> Family

              Types:

                 Family = family()
                 SetFun = set_fun()
                 Set = a_set()

              Returns  the  family Family where the indexed set is a partition of Set such that two elements are
              considered equal if the results of applying SetFun are the same value i. This i is the index  that
              Family maps onto the equivalence class.

              1> S = sofs:relation([{a,a,a,a},{a,a,b,b},{a,b,b,b}]),
              SetFun = {external, fun({A,_,C,_}) -> {A,C} end},
              F = sofs:partition_family(SetFun, S),
              sofs:to_external(F).
              [{{a,a},[{a,a,a,a}]},{{a,b},[{a,a,b,b},{a,b,b,b}]}]

       product(TupleOfSets) -> Relation

              Types:

                 Relation = relation()
                 TupleOfSets = tuple_of(a_set())

              Returns  the Cartesian product of the non-empty tuple of sets TupleOfSets. If (x[1], ..., x[n]) is
              an element of the n-ary relation Relation, then x[i] is drawn from element i of TupleOfSets.

              1> S1 = sofs:set([a,b]),
              S2 = sofs:set([1,2]),
              S3 = sofs:set([x,y]),
              P3 = sofs:product({S1,S2,S3}),
              sofs:to_external(P3).
              [{a,1,x},{a,1,y},{a,2,x},{a,2,y},{b,1,x},{b,1,y},{b,2,x},{b,2,y}]

       product(Set1, Set2) -> BinRel

              Types:

                 BinRel = binary_relation()
                 Set1 = Set2 = a_set()

              Returns the Cartesian product of Set1 and Set2.

              1> S1 = sofs:set([1,2]),
              S2 = sofs:set([a,b]),
              R = sofs:product(S1, S2),
              sofs:to_external(R).
              [{1,a},{1,b},{2,a},{2,b}]

              product(S1, S2) is equivalent to product({S1, S2}).

       projection(SetFun, Set1) -> Set2

              Types:

                 SetFun = set_fun()
                 Set1 = Set2 = a_set()

              Returns the set created by substituting each element of Set1 by the result of applying  SetFun  to
              the element.

              If  SetFun  is  a number i >= 1 and Set1 is a relation, then the returned set is the projection of
              Set1 onto coordinate i.

              1> S1 = sofs:from_term([{1,a},{2,b},{3,a}]),
              S2 = sofs:projection(2, S1),
              sofs:to_external(S2).
              [a,b]

       range(BinRel) -> Set

              Types:

                 BinRel = binary_relation()
                 Set = a_set()

              Returns the range of the binary relation BinRel.

              1> R = sofs:relation([{1,a},{1,b},{2,b},{2,c}]),
              S = sofs:range(R),
              sofs:to_external(S).
              [a,b,c]

       relation(Tuples) -> Relation

       relation(Tuples, Type) -> Relation

              Types:

                 N = integer()
                 Type = N | type()
                 Relation = relation()
                 Tuples = [tuple()]

              Creates a relation. relation(R, T) is equivalent to from_term(R, T), if T is a type and the result
              is  a relation. If Type is an integer N, then [{atom, ..., atom}]), where the size of the tuple is
              N, is used as type of the relation. If no type is explicitly given, the size of the first tuple of
              Tuples is used if there is such a tuple. relation([]) is equivalent to relation([], 2).

       relation_to_family(BinRel) -> Family

              Types:

                 Family = family()
                 BinRel = binary_relation()

              Returns  the  family  Family such that the index set is equal to the domain of the binary relation
              BinRel, and Family[i] is the image of the set of i under BinRel.

              1> R = sofs:relation([{b,1},{c,2},{c,3}]),
              F = sofs:relation_to_family(R),
              sofs:to_external(F).
              [{b,[1]},{c,[2,3]}]

       relative_product(ListOfBinRels) -> BinRel2

       relative_product(ListOfBinRels, BinRel1) -> BinRel2

              Types:

                 ListOfBinRels = [BinRel, ...]
                 BinRel = BinRel1 = BinRel2 = binary_relation()

              If ListOfBinRels is a non-empty list [R[1], ..., R[n]] of binary relations and BinRel1 is a binary
              relation, then BinRel2 is the relative product of the ordered set (R[i], ..., R[n]) and BinRel1.

              If  BinRel1  is omitted, the relation of equality between the elements of the Cartesian product of
              the ranges of R[i], range R[1] x ... x range  R[n],  is  used  instead  (intuitively,  nothing  is
              "lost").

              1> TR = sofs:relation([{1,a},{1,aa},{2,b}]),
              R1 = sofs:relation([{1,u},{2,v},{3,c}]),
              R2 = sofs:relative_product([TR, R1]),
              sofs:to_external(R2).
              [{1,{a,u}},{1,{aa,u}},{2,{b,v}}]

              Note  that  relative_product([R1], R2) is different from relative_product(R1, R2); the list of one
              element is not identified with the element itself.

       relative_product(BinRel1, BinRel2) -> BinRel3

              Types:

                 BinRel1 = BinRel2 = BinRel3 = binary_relation()

              Returns the relative product of the binary relations BinRel1 and BinRel2.

       relative_product1(BinRel1, BinRel2) -> BinRel3

              Types:

                 BinRel1 = BinRel2 = BinRel3 = binary_relation()

              Returns the relative product of the converse  of  the  binary  relation  BinRel1  and  the  binary
              relation BinRel2.

              1> R1 = sofs:relation([{1,a},{1,aa},{2,b}]),
              R2 = sofs:relation([{1,u},{2,v},{3,c}]),
              R3 = sofs:relative_product1(R1, R2),
              sofs:to_external(R3).
              [{a,u},{aa,u},{b,v}]

              relative_product1(R1, R2) is equivalent to relative_product(converse(R1), R2).

       restriction(BinRel1, Set) -> BinRel2

              Types:

                 BinRel1 = BinRel2 = binary_relation()
                 Set = a_set()

              Returns the restriction of the binary relation BinRel1 to Set.

              1> R1 = sofs:relation([{1,a},{2,b},{3,c}]),
              S = sofs:set([1,2,4]),
              R2 = sofs:restriction(R1, S),
              sofs:to_external(R2).
              [{1,a},{2,b}]

       restriction(SetFun, Set1, Set2) -> Set3

              Types:

                 SetFun = set_fun()
                 Set1 = Set2 = Set3 = a_set()

              Returns  a subset of Set1 containing those elements that yield an element in Set2 as the result of
              applying SetFun.

              1> S1 = sofs:relation([{1,a},{2,b},{3,c}]),
              S2 = sofs:set([b,c,d]),
              S3 = sofs:restriction(2, S1, S2),
              sofs:to_external(S3).
              [{2,b},{3,c}]

       set(Terms) -> Set

       set(Terms, Type) -> Set

              Types:

                 Set = a_set()
                 Terms = [term()]
                 Type = type()

              Creates an unordered set. set(L, T) is  equivalent  to  from_term(L,  T),  if  the  result  is  an
              unordered set. If no type is explicitly given, [atom] is used as type of the set.

       specification(Fun, Set1) -> Set2

              Types:

                 Fun = spec_fun()
                 Set1 = Set2 = a_set()

              Returns  the  set  containing  every element of Set1 for which Fun returns true. If Fun is a tuple
              {external, Fun2}, Fun2 is applied to the external set of each element, otherwise Fun is applied to
              each element.

              1> R1 = sofs:relation([{a,1},{b,2}]),
              R2 = sofs:relation([{x,1},{x,2},{y,3}]),
              S1 = sofs:from_sets([R1,R2]),
              S2 = sofs:specification(fun sofs:is_a_function/1, S1),
              sofs:to_external(S2).
              [[{a,1},{b,2}]]

       strict_relation(BinRel1) -> BinRel2

              Types:

                 BinRel1 = BinRel2 = binary_relation()

              Returns the strict relation corresponding to the binary relation BinRel1.

              1> R1 = sofs:relation([{1,1},{1,2},{2,1},{2,2}]),
              R2 = sofs:strict_relation(R1),
              sofs:to_external(R2).
              [{1,2},{2,1}]

       substitution(SetFun, Set1) -> Set2

              Types:

                 SetFun = set_fun()
                 Set1 = Set2 = a_set()

              Returns  a  function,  the  domain  of which is Set1. The value of an element of the domain is the
              result of applying SetFun to the element.

              1> L = [{a,1},{b,2}].
              [{a,1},{b,2}]
              2> sofs:to_external(sofs:projection(1,sofs:relation(L))).
              [a,b]
              3> sofs:to_external(sofs:substitution(1,sofs:relation(L))).
              [{{a,1},a},{{b,2},b}]
              4> SetFun = {external, fun({A,_}=E) -> {E,A} end},
              sofs:to_external(sofs:projection(SetFun,sofs:relation(L))).
              [{{a,1},a},{{b,2},b}]

              The relation of equality between the elements of {a,b,c}:

              1> I = sofs:substitution(fun(A) -> A end, sofs:set([a,b,c])),
              sofs:to_external(I).
              [{a,a},{b,b},{c,c}]

              Let SetOfSets be a set of sets and BinRel a binary relation. The function that maps  each  element
              Set of SetOfSets onto the image of Set under BinRel is returned by this function:

              images(SetOfSets, BinRel) ->
                 Fun = fun(Set) -> sofs:image(BinRel, Set) end,
                 sofs:substitution(Fun, SetOfSets).

              Here  might  be  the  place  to  reveal something that was more or less stated before, namely that
              external unordered sets are represented as sorted lists. As a consequence, creating the image of a
              set  under  a relation R may traverse all elements of R (to that comes the sorting of results, the
              image). In images/2, BinRel will be traversed once for each element of SetOfSets, which  may  take
              too  long.  The  following  efficient function could be used instead under the assumption that the
              image of each element of SetOfSets under BinRel is non-empty:

              images2(SetOfSets, BinRel) ->
                 CR = sofs:canonical_relation(SetOfSets),
                 R = sofs:relative_product1(CR, BinRel),
                 sofs:relation_to_family(R).

       symdiff(Set1, Set2) -> Set3

              Types:

                 Set1 = Set2 = Set3 = a_set()

              Returns the symmetric difference (or the Boolean sum) of Set1 and Set2.

              1> S1 = sofs:set([1,2,3]),
              S2 = sofs:set([2,3,4]),
              P = sofs:symdiff(S1, S2),
              sofs:to_external(P).
              [1,4]

       symmetric_partition(Set1, Set2) -> {Set3, Set4, Set5}

              Types:

                 Set1 = Set2 = Set3 = Set4 = Set5 = a_set()

              Returns a triple of sets: Set3 contains the elements of Set1 that do  not  belong  to  Set2;  Set4
              contains  the elements of Set1 that belong to Set2; Set5 contains the elements of Set2 that do not
              belong to Set1.

       to_external(AnySet) -> ExternalSet

              Types:

                 ExternalSet = external_set()
                 AnySet = anyset()

              Returns the external set of an atomic, ordered or unordered set.

       to_sets(ASet) -> Sets

              Types:

                 ASet = a_set() | ordset()
                 Sets = tuple_of(AnySet) | [AnySet]
                 AnySet = anyset()

              Returns the elements of the ordered set ASet as a tuple of sets, and the elements of the unordered
              set ASet as a sorted list of sets without duplicates.

       type(AnySet) -> Type

              Types:

                 AnySet = anyset()
                 Type = type()

              Returns the type of an atomic, ordered or unordered set.

       union(SetOfSets) -> Set

              Types:

                 Set = a_set()
                 SetOfSets = set_of_sets()

              Returns the union of the set of sets SetOfSets.

       union(Set1, Set2) -> Set3

              Types:

                 Set1 = Set2 = Set3 = a_set()

              Returns the union of Set1 and Set2.

       union_of_family(Family) -> Set

              Types:

                 Family = family()
                 Set = a_set()

              Returns the union of the family Family.

              1> F = sofs:family([{a,[0,2,4]},{b,[0,1,2]},{c,[2,3]}]),
              S = sofs:union_of_family(F),
              sofs:to_external(S).
              [0,1,2,3,4]

       weak_relation(BinRel1) -> BinRel2

              Types:

                 BinRel1 = BinRel2 = binary_relation()

              Returns  a  subset S of the weak relation W corresponding to the binary relation BinRel1. Let F be
              the field of BinRel1. The subset S is defined so that x S y if x W y for some x in F and for  some
              y in F.

              1> R1 = sofs:relation([{1,1},{1,2},{3,1}]),
              R2 = sofs:weak_relation(R1),
              sofs:to_external(R2).
              [{1,1},{1,2},{2,2},{3,1},{3,3}]

SEE ALSO

       dict(3erl), digraph(3erl), orddict(3erl), ordsets(3erl), sets(3erl)