Computing contingencies for stable relations

Close ties between approximation properties for relations on C*-algebra elements and lifting results for the universal C*-algebras the relations generate is a very widespread and useful phenomenon in C*-algebra theory. In this paper, we explore how to achieve results of this kind when the approximation properties and the lifting results are true only in special cases determined by K-theoretical contingencies. To interpolate between properties of these two basic types, we must investigate C*-algebras given by softened relations, in particular with emphasis on their K-theory. A surprisingly weak correlation between the K-theory of the C*-algebras given by exact and softened relations leads to delicate problems which must be treated with care. As an example of a set of relations which are prone to an analysis of this kind we study the pairs of unitaries commuting up to rational rotation.