|
Ping-pong Lemma
In mathematics, the ping-pong lemma, or table-tennis lemma, is any of several mathematical statements that ensure that several elements in a group (mathematics), group group action, acting on a set freely Generating set of a group, generates a free group, free subgroup of that group. History The ping-pong argument goes back to the late 19th century and is commonly attributed to Felix Klein who used it to study subgroups of Kleinian groups, that is, of discrete groups of isometry, isometries of the hyperbolic 3-space or, equivalently Möbius transformations of the Riemann sphere. The ping-pong lemma was a key tool used by Jacques Tits in his 1972 paperJ. Tits''Free subgroups in linear groups.''Journal of Algebra, vol. 20 (1972), pp. 250–270 containing the mathematical proof, proof of a famous result now known as the Tits alternative. The result states that a finitely generated group, finitely generated linear group is either virtually solvable group, solvable or contains a free sub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics with the major subdisciplines of number theory, algebra, geometry, and analysis, respectively. There is no general consensus among mathematicians about a common definition for their academic discipline. Most mathematical activity involves the discovery of properties of abstract objects and the use of pure reason to prove them. These objects consist of either abstractions from nature orin modern mathematicsentities that are stipulated to have certain properties, called axioms. A ''proof'' consists of a succession of applications of deductive rules to already established results. These results include previously proved theorems, axioms, andin case of abstraction from naturesome basic properties that are considered true starting points of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Linear Group
In mathematics, a matrix group is a group ''G'' consisting of invertible matrices over a specified field ''K'', with the operation of matrix multiplication. A linear group is a group that is isomorphic to a matrix group (that is, admitting a faithful, finite-dimensional representation over ''K''). Any finite group is linear, because it can be realized by permutation matrices using Cayley's theorem. Among infinite groups, linear groups form an interesting and tractable class. Examples of groups that are not linear include groups which are "too big" (for example, the group of permutations of an infinite set), or which exhibit some pathological behavior (for example, finitely generated infinite torsion groups). Definition and basic examples A group ''G'' is said to be ''linear'' if there exists a field ''K'', an integer ''d'' and an injective homomorphism from ''G'' to the general linear group GL''d''(''K'') (a faithful linear representation of dimension ''d'' over ''K''): if ne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Special Linear Group
In mathematics, the special linear group of degree ''n'' over a field ''F'' is the set of matrices with determinant 1, with the group operations of ordinary matrix multiplication and matrix inversion. This is the normal subgroup of the general linear group given by the kernel of the determinant :\det\colon \operatorname(n, F) \to F^\times. where ''F''× is the multiplicative group of ''F'' (that is, ''F'' excluding 0). These elements are "special" in that they form an algebraic subvariety of the general linear group – they satisfy a polynomial equation (since the determinant is polynomial in the entries). When ''F'' is a finite field of order ''q'', the notation is sometimes used. Geometric interpretation The special linear group can be characterized as the group of ''volume and orientation preserving'' linear transformations of R''n''; this corresponds to the interpretation of the determinant as measuring change in volume and orientation. Lie subgroup When ''F'' is R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Corollary
In mathematics and logic, a corollary ( , ) is a theorem of less importance which can be readily deduced from a previous, more notable statement. A corollary could, for instance, be a proposition which is incidentally proved while proving another proposition; it might also be used more casually to refer to something which naturally or incidentally accompanies something else (e.g., violence as a corollary of revolutionary social changes). Overview In mathematics, a corollary is a theorem connected by a short proof to an existing theorem. The use of the term ''corollary'', rather than ''proposition'' or ''theorem'', is intrinsically subjective. More formally, proposition ''B'' is a corollary of proposition ''A'', if ''B'' can be readily deduced from ''A'' or is self-evident from its proof. In many cases, a corollary corresponds to a special case of a larger theorem, which makes the theorem easier to use and apply, even though its importance is generally considered to be secondary t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Without Loss Of Generality
''Without loss of generality'' (often abbreviated to WOLOG, WLOG or w.l.o.g.; less commonly stated as ''without any loss of generality'' or ''with no loss of generality'') is a frequently used expression in mathematics. The term is used to indicate the assumption that follows is chosen arbitrarily, narrowing the premise to a particular case, but does not affect the validity of the proof in general. The other cases are sufficiently similar to the one presented that proving them follows by essentially the same logic. As a result, once a proof is given for the particular case, it is trivial to adapt it to prove the conclusion in all other cases. In many scenarios, the use of "without loss of generality" is made possible by the presence of symmetry. For example, if some property ''P''(''x'',''y'') of real numbers is known to be symmetric in ''x'' and ''y'', namely that ''P''(''x'',''y'') is equivalent to ''P''(''y'',''x''), then in proving that ''P''(''x'',''y'') holds for every ''x'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Identity Element
In mathematics, an identity element, or neutral element, of a binary operation operating on a set is an element of the set that leaves unchanged every element of the set when the operation is applied. This concept is used in algebraic structures such as groups and rings. The term ''identity element'' is often shortened to ''identity'' (as in the case of additive identity and multiplicative identity) when there is no possibility of confusion, but the identity implicitly depends on the binary operation it is associated with. Definitions Let be a set equipped with a binary operation ∗. Then an element of is called a if for all in , and a if for all in . If is both a left identity and a right identity, then it is called a , or simply an . An identity with respect to addition is called an (often denoted as 0) and an identity with respect to multiplication is called a (often denoted as 1). These need not be ordinary additi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Empty Set
In mathematics, the empty set is the unique set having no elements; its size or cardinality (count of elements in a set) is zero. Some axiomatic set theories ensure that the empty set exists by including an axiom of empty set, while in other theories, its existence can be deduced. Many possible properties of sets are vacuously true for the empty set. Any set other than the empty set is called non-empty. In some textbooks and popularizations, the empty set is referred to as the "null set". However, null set is a distinct notion within the context of measure theory, in which it describes a set of measure zero (which is not necessarily empty). The empty set may also be called the void set. Notation Common notations for the empty set include "", "\emptyset", and "∅". The latter two symbols were introduced by the Bourbaki group (specifically André Weil) in 1939, inspired by the letter Ø in the Danish and Norwegian alphabets. In the past, "0" was occasionally used as a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Disjoint Sets
In mathematics, two sets are said to be disjoint sets if they have no element in common. Equivalently, two disjoint sets are sets whose intersection is the empty set.. For example, and are ''disjoint sets,'' while and are not disjoint. A collection of two or more sets is called disjoint if any two distinct sets of the collection are disjoint. Generalizations This definition of disjoint sets can be extended to a family of sets \left(A_i\right)_: the family is pairwise disjoint, or mutually disjoint if A_i \cap A_j = \varnothing whenever i \neq j. Alternatively, some authors use the term disjoint to refer to this notion as well. For families the notion of pairwise disjoint or mutually disjoint is sometimes defined in a subtly different manner, in that repeated identical members are allowed: the family is pairwise disjoint if A_i \cap A_j = \varnothing whenever A_i \neq A_j (every two ''distinct'' sets in the family are disjoint).. For example, the collection of sets is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Order (group Theory)
In mathematics, the order of a finite group is the number of its elements. If a group is not finite, one says that its order is ''infinite''. The ''order'' of an element of a group (also called period length or period) is the order of the subgroup generated by the element. If the group operation is denoted as a multiplication, the order of an element of a group, is thus the smallest positive integer such that , where denotes the identity element of the group, and denotes the product of copies of . If no such exists, the order of is infinite. The order of a group is denoted by or , and the order of an element is denoted by or , instead of \operatorname(\langle a\rangle), where the brackets denote the generated group. Lagrange's theorem states that for any subgroup of a finite group , the order of the subgroup divides the order of the group; that is, is a divisor of . In particular, the order of any element is a divisor of . Example The symmetric group S3 has th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Free Product
In mathematics, specifically group theory, the free product is an operation that takes two groups ''G'' and ''H'' and constructs a new The result contains both ''G'' and ''H'' as subgroups, is generated by the elements of these subgroups, and is the “universal” group having these properties, in the sense that any two homomorphisms from ''G'' and ''H'' into a group ''K'' factor uniquely through a homomorphism from to ''K''. Unless one of the groups ''G'' and ''H'' is trivial, the free product is always infinite. The construction of a free product is similar in spirit to the construction of a free group (the universal group with a given set of generators). The free product is the coproduct in the category of groups. That is, the free product plays the same role in group theory that disjoint union plays in set theory, or that the direct sum plays in module theory. Even if the groups are commutative, their free product is not, unless one of the two groups is the trivial grou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roger Lyndon
Roger Conant Lyndon (December 18, 1917 – June 8, 1988) was an American mathematician, for many years a professor at the University of Michigan.. He is known for Lyndon words, the Curtis–Hedlund–Lyndon theorem, Craig–Lyndon interpolation and the Lyndon–Hochschild–Serre spectral sequence. Biography Lyndon was born on December 18, 1917, in Calais, Maine, the son of a Unitarian minister. His mother died when he was two years old, after which he and his father moved several times to towns in Massachusetts and New York. He did his undergraduate studies at Harvard University, originally intending to study literature but eventually settling on mathematics, and graduated in 1939. He took a job as a banker, but soon afterwards returned to graduate school at Harvard, earning a master's degree in 1941. After a brief teaching stint at the Georgia Institute of Technology, he returned to Harvard for the third time in 1942 and while there taught navigation as part of the V-12 Navy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geometric Group Theory
Geometric group theory is an area in mathematics devoted to the study of finitely generated groups via exploring the connections between algebraic properties of such group (mathematics), groups and topology, topological and geometry, geometric properties of spaces on which these groups Group action (mathematics), act (that is, when the groups in question are realized as geometric symmetries or continuous transformations of some spaces). Another important idea in geometric group theory is to consider finitely generated groups themselves as geometric objects. This is usually done by studying the Cayley graphs of groups, which, in addition to the graph (discrete mathematics), graph structure, are endowed with the structure of a metric space, given by the so-called word metric. Geometric group theory, as a distinct area, is relatively new, and became a clearly identifiable branch of mathematics in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Geometric group theory closely interacts with low-dimens ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
;_Cayley_table.svg "Click for more on -> Special Linear Group")
