Tolerances induced by irredundant coverings. (Q2805430)

The authors study connctions between tolerance relations and quasiorders on a given set. Having a tolerance relation \(R\), a quasiorder \(\leq\) can be defined by \(x\leq y\) if \(R(x)\subset R(y)\). Conversely, having a quasiorder \(\leq\), a tolerance relation \(R\) can be induced as \(R=\geq\circ\leq\).NEWLINENEWLINE These assignments are investigated in the paper. Hence, an irredundant covering induced by a tolerance relation can be characterized by means of minimal elements with respect to the induced quasiorder. The irredundant covering \(\mathcal H\) induced by \(R\) consists of some blocks of \(R\). It is given a necessary and sufficient condition under which \(\mathcal H\) and the set of all blocks of \(R\) coincide. A quasiordered set \(U\) has \textit{Helly number} \(k\) if for any subset \(A\) of \(U\), if any \(k\) elements of \(A\) have a common lower bound then the whole of \(A\) has a common lower bound. It is shown that if a qusiorder is induced by a tolerance relation then its Helly number is equal to 2.