symmetric
Of a relation R on a set S, such that xRy if and only if yRx for all members x and y of S (that is, if the relation holds between any element and a second, it also holds between the second and the first).
Example
“"Is a sibling of" is a symmetric relation.”
Other meanings
Using the same key (or keys that are trivially related) for both encryption and decryption.
Related words
- assosymmetric
- polysymmetric
- pseudosymmetric
- quasisymmetric
- symmetrician
- symmetricity
- antisymmetric
- asymmetric
- skew-symmetric determinant
- axisymmetric
- axi-symmetric
- bisymmetric
Word history
From Ancient Greek "συμμετρία".
Where this comes from
This definition is adapted from “symmetric” on Wiktionary, by its contributors, published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.