The interpretation of congruence relations

congruence-relationsequivalence-relationsuniversal-algebra

I am studying universal algebra and read An Invitation to General Algebra and Universal Constructions by Bergman. This is a definition from the book, about congruences.

enter image description here

My question is, what is a correct interpretation of this definition? I know that kernels of homomorphisms are congruence relations and that an algebra modulo congruence becomes a quotient algebra

But I fail to connect the use of congruence relations with the definition. Is there any way to tell the definition in other words, to make it more intuitive?

Am I correct in seeing congruence as some subset of the universe of given algebra, which somehow sorts the elements into categories? And how is this a kernel of homomorphism?

Thank you for any insights.

Best Answer

This is equivalent to say all the basic operations on $A$ can be defined as over the equivalence classes of $\theta$ by $f([x_1], \cdots, [x_n]) := [f(x_1, \cdots, x_n)]$ -- using the substitution property, it can be shown that this is well-defined. Therefore, we may define $A/\theta$ as a quotient algebra, with the natural map $A\rightarrow A/\theta$ being a homomorphism.

On the other hand, if we have a homomorphism of algebras $\rho: A\rightarrow B$, and define $x\theta y \Leftrightarrow \rho(x)=\rho(y)$, then $\theta$ is a congruence relation on $A$.

This shows that congruence relation is equivalent to quotient algebra, and surjective morphism. This is where universal algebra is different from group/ring theory: In groups, a congruence relation is equivalent to a normal subgroup, and in rings, a congruence relation is equivalent to an ideal. However, in universal algebra, kernels is not necessarily defined, and different equivalence classes of a congruence relation may not even have the same cardinality, so they are in general not necessarily cosets of something.

Related Question