Full Idea
Everything one needs to do with relations in mathematics can be done by taking a relation to be a set of ordered pairs. (Ordered triples etc. can be defined as order pairs, so that <x,y,z> is <x,<y,z>>).
Gist of Idea
The mathematics of relations is entirely covered by ordered pairs
Source
Charles Chihara (A Structural Account of Mathematics [2004], 07.2)
Book Reference
Chihara,Charles: 'A Structural Account of Mathematics' [OUP 2004], p.174
A Reaction
How do we distinguish 'I own my cat' from 'I love my cat'? Or 'I quite like my cat' from 'I adore my cat'? Nevertheless, this is an interesting starting point for a discussion of relations.