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In mathematics, a directed set is a nonempty right filtering preorder, i.e. a nonempty set A together with a reflexive and transitive binary relation ≤ having the additional property that for any two elements a and b in A, there exists an element c in A (not necessarily distinct from a,b) with a ≤ c and b ≤ c (directedness).

Given two points a and b one can move from a in the direction of b by finding another point c "beyond" both a and b. Continuing inductively, one can find a sequence a ≤ b ≤ c ≤ d ≤ ... of points.

Contents 1 Applications 2 Examples 3 Contrast with semilattices 4 Directed subsets 5 See also

Directed sets are generalizations of nonempty totally ordered sets. In topology they are used to define nets that generalize sequences and unite the various notions of limit used in analysis.

Examples of directed sets include:

• The set of natural numbers N with the ordinary order ≤ is a directed set (and so is every totally ordered set).
• If x₀ is a real number, we can turn the set R − {x₀} into a directed set by writing a ≤ b if and only if
  |a − x₀| ≥ |b − x₀|. We then say that the reals have been directed towards x₀. This is not a partial order.
• If T is a topological space and x₀ is a point in T, we turn the set of all neighbourhoods of x₀ into a directed set by writing U ≤ V if and only if U contains V.
  • For every U: U ≤ U; since U contains itself.
  • For every U,V,W: if U ≤ V and V ≤ W, then U ≤ W; since if U contains V and V contains W then U contains W.
  • For every U, V: there exists the set U V such that U ≤ U V and V ≤ U V; since both U and V contain U V.
• In a poset P, every subset of the form {a| a in P, a ≤x}, where x is a fixed element from P, is directed.

Directed sets are a weaker (more general) concept than (join) semilattices: every join semilattice is a directed set, as the join or least upper bound of two elements is the desired c. The converse does not hold however, witness the directed set {1000,0001,1101,1011,1111} ordered bitwise, where {1000,0001} has three upper bounds but no least upper bound.

Directed sets need not be antisymmetric and therefore in general are not partial orders. However, the term is also frequently used in the context of posets. In this setting, a subset A of a partially ordered set (P,≤) is called a directed subset iff

• A is not the empty set,
• for any two a and b in A, there exists a c in A with a ≤ c and b ≤ c (directedness),

where the order of the elements of A is inherited from P. For this reason, reflexivity and transitivity need not be required explicitly.

Directed subsets are most commonly used in domain theory, where one studies orders for which these sets are required to have a least upper bound. Thus, directed subsets provide a generalization of (converging) sequences in the setting of partial orders as well.

• equivalence relation
• filter
• filtered category
• semilattice