Formalizing relations in type theory
Type theory plays an important role in foundations of mathematics as a framework for formalizing mathematics and a base for proof assistants providing semi-automatic proof checking and construction. Derivation of each theorem in type theory results in a formal term encapsulating the whole proof process. In this paper we use a variant of type theory, namely the Calculus of Constructions with Definitions, to formalize the standard theory of binary relations. This includes basic operations on relations, criteria for special properties of relations, invariance of these properties under the basic operations, equivalence relation, well-ordering, and transfinite induction. Definitions and proofs are presented as flag-style derivations.