ordered pair

A Dictionary of Computing | 2004 | 507 words | Copyright

ordered pair A pair of objects in a given fixed order, usually represented by (x,y) or 〈x,y〉

for objects x and y. Two ordered pairs are said to be equal if and only if the first elements of each pair are equal and the second elements are equal. Typical situations in which ordered pairs are used include discussion of points in the Cartesian plane or complex numbers.

The idea can be extended to cover ordered triples, such as (x₁,x₂,x₃)

and indeed ordered n-tuples, such as (x₁,x₂,…x_n)

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