Abstract algebraIn mathematics, more specifically algebra, abstract algebra or modern algebra is the study of algebraic structures. Algebraic structures include groups, rings, fields, modules, vector spaces, lattices, and algebras over a field. The term abstract algebra was coined in the early 20th century to distinguish it from older parts of algebra, and more specifically from elementary algebra, the use of variables to represent numbers in computation and reasoning.
QuasigroupIn mathematics, especially in abstract algebra, a quasigroup is an algebraic structure resembling a group in the sense that "division" is always possible. Quasigroups differ from groups mainly in that they need not be associative and need not have an identity element. A quasigroup with an identity element is called a loop. There are at least two structurally equivalent formal definitions of quasigroup. One defines a quasigroup as a set with one binary operation, and the other, from universal algebra, defines a quasigroup as having three primitive operations.
SemigroupIn mathematics, a semigroup is an algebraic structure consisting of a set together with an associative internal binary operation on it. The binary operation of a semigroup is most often denoted multiplicatively (just notation, not necessarily the elementary arithmetic multiplication): x·y, or simply xy, denotes the result of applying the semigroup operation to the ordered pair (x, y). Associativity is formally expressed as that (x·y)·z = x·(y·z) for all x, y and z in the semigroup.
Cayley tableNamed after the 19th century British mathematician Arthur Cayley, a Cayley table describes the structure of a finite group by arranging all the possible products of all the group's elements in a square table reminiscent of an addition or multiplication table. Many properties of a group - such as whether or not it is abelian, which elements are inverses of which elements, and the size and contents of the group's center - can be discovered from its Cayley table.
Free objectIn mathematics, the idea of a free object is one of the basic concepts of abstract algebra. Informally, a free object over a set A can be thought of as being a "generic" algebraic structure over A: the only equations that hold between elements of the free object are those that follow from the defining axioms of the algebraic structure. Examples include free groups, tensor algebras, or free lattices. The concept is a part of universal algebra, in the sense that it relates to all types of algebraic structure (with finitary operations).
Lattice (order)A lattice is an abstract structure studied in the mathematical subdisciplines of order theory and abstract algebra. It consists of a partially ordered set in which every pair of elements has a unique supremum (also called a least upper bound or join) and a unique infimum (also called a greatest lower bound or meet). An example is given by the power set of a set, partially ordered by inclusion, for which the supremum is the union and the infimum is the intersection.
Cancellation propertyIn mathematics, the notion of cancellativity (or cancellability) is a generalization of the notion of invertibility. An element a in a magma (M, ∗) has the left cancellation property (or is left-cancellative) if for all b and c in M, a ∗ b = a ∗ c always implies that b = c. An element a in a magma (M, ∗) has the right cancellation property (or is right-cancellative) if for all b and c in M, b ∗ a = c ∗ a always implies that b = c. An element a in a magma (M, ∗) has the two-sided cancellation property (or is cancellative) if it is both left- and right-cancellative.
HomomorphismIn algebra, a homomorphism is a structure-preserving map between two algebraic structures of the same type (such as two groups, two rings, or two vector spaces). The word homomorphism comes from the Ancient Greek language: ὁμός () meaning "same" and μορφή () meaning "form" or "shape". However, the word was apparently introduced to mathematics due to a (mis)translation of German ähnlich meaning "similar" to ὁμός meaning "same". The term "homomorphism" appeared as early as 1892, when it was attributed to the German mathematician Felix Klein (1849–1925).
Inverse elementIn mathematics, the concept of an inverse element generalises the concepts of opposite (−x) and reciprocal (1/x) of numbers. Given an operation denoted here ∗, and an identity element denoted e, if x ∗ y = e, one says that x is a left inverse of y, and that y is a right inverse of x. (An identity element is an element such that x * e = x and e * y = y for all x and y for which the left-hand sides are defined.
Universal algebraUniversal algebra (sometimes called general algebra) is the field of mathematics that studies algebraic structures themselves, not examples ("models") of algebraic structures. For instance, rather than take particular groups as the object of study, in universal algebra one takes the class of groups as an object of study. Algebraic structure In universal algebra, an algebra (or algebraic structure) is a set A together with a collection of operations on A. An n-ary operation on A is a function that takes n elements of A and returns a single element of A.
MonoidIn abstract algebra, a branch of mathematics, a monoid is a set equipped with an associative binary operation and an identity element. For example, the nonnegative integers with addition form a monoid, the identity element being 0. Monoids are semigroups with identity. Such algebraic structures occur in several branches of mathematics. The functions from a set into itself form a monoid with respect to function composition. More generally, in , the morphisms of an to itself form a monoid, and, conversely, a monoid may be viewed as a category with a single object.
Variety (universal algebra)In universal algebra, a variety of algebras or equational class is the class of all algebraic structures of a given signature satisfying a given set of identities. For example, the groups form a variety of algebras, as do the abelian groups, the rings, the monoids etc. According to Birkhoff's theorem, a class of algebraic structures of the same signature is a variety if and only if it is closed under the taking of homomorphic images, subalgebras, and (direct) products.
Absorbing elementIn mathematics, an absorbing element (or annihilating element) is a special type of element of a set with respect to a binary operation on that set. The result of combining an absorbing element with any element of the set is the absorbing element itself. In semigroup theory, the absorbing element is called a zero element because there is no risk of confusion with other notions of zero, with the notable exception: under additive notation zero may, quite naturally, denote the neutral element of a monoid.
Inverse semigroupIn group theory, an inverse semigroup (occasionally called an inversion semigroup) S is a semigroup in which every element x in S has a unique inverse y in S in the sense that x = xyx and y = yxy, i.e. a regular semigroup in which every element has a unique inverse. Inverse semigroups appear in a range of contexts; for example, they can be employed in the study of partial symmetries. (The convention followed in this article will be that of writing a function on the right of its argument, e.g.
IdempotenceIdempotence (UK,ɪdɛmˈpəʊtəns, USˈaɪdəm-) is the property of certain operations in mathematics and computer science whereby they can be applied multiple times without changing the result beyond the initial application. The concept of idempotence arises in a number of places in abstract algebra (in particular, in the theory of projectors and closure operators) and functional programming (in which it is connected to the property of referential transparency).
Free monoidIn abstract algebra, the free monoid on a set is the monoid whose elements are all the finite sequences (or strings) of zero or more elements from that set, with string concatenation as the monoid operation and with the unique sequence of zero elements, often called the empty string and denoted by ε or λ, as the identity element. The free monoid on a set A is usually denoted A∗. The free semigroup on A is the subsemigroup of A∗ containing all elements except the empty string. It is usually denoted A+.
