Informal Representation
In plain English, a hierarchy can be thought of as a set in which:
- No element is superior to itself, and
- One element, the hierarch, is superior to all of the other elements in the set.
The first requirement is also interpreted to mean that a hierarchy can have no circular relationships; the association between two objects is always transitive. The second requirement asserts that a hierarchy must have a leader or root that is common to all of the objects.
Read more about this topic: Hierarchy
Famous quotes containing the word informal:
“We are now a nation of people in daily contact with strangers. Thanks to mass transportation, school administrators and teachers often live many miles from the neighborhood schoolhouse. They are no longer in daily informal contact with parents, ministers, and other institution leaders . . . [and are] no longer a natural extension of parental authority.”
—James P. Comer (20th century)