Stable Theory
In the mathematical field of model theory, a complete theory is called stable if it does not have too many types. One goal of classification theory is to divide all complete theories into those whose models can be classified and those whose models are too complicated to classify, and to classify all models in the cases where this can be done. Roughly speaking, if a theory is not stable then its models are too complicated and numerous to classify, while if a theory is stable there might be some hope of classifying its models, especially if the theory is superstable or totally transcendental. Stability theory was started by , who introduced several of the fundamental concepts, such as totally transcendental theories and the Morley rank. Stable and superstable theories were first introduced by , who is responsible for much of the development of stability theory. The definitive reference for stability theory is , though it is notoriously hard even for experts to read, as mentioned, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Model Theory
In mathematical logic, model theory is the study of the relationship between formal theories (a collection of sentences in a formal language expressing statements about a mathematical structure), and their models (those structures in which the statements of the theory hold). The aspects investigated include the number and size of models of a theory, the relationship of different models to each other, and their interaction with the formal language itself. In particular, model theorists also investigate the sets that can be defined in a model of a theory, and the relationship of such definable sets to each other. As a separate discipline, model theory goes back to Alfred Tarski, who first used the term "Theory of Models" in publication in 1954. Since the 1970s, the subject has been shaped decisively by Saharon Shelah's stability theory. Compared to other areas of mathematical logic such as proof theory, model theory is often less concerned with formal rigour and closer in spirit ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Integral Domain
In mathematics, specifically abstract algebra, an integral domain is a nonzero commutative ring in which the product of any two nonzero elements is nonzero. Integral domains are generalizations of the ring of integers and provide a natural setting for studying divisibility. In an integral domain, every nonzero element ''a'' has the cancellation property, that is, if , an equality implies . "Integral domain" is defined almost universally as above, but there is some variation. This article follows the convention that rings have a multiplicative identity, generally denoted 1, but some authors do not follow this, by not requiring integral domains to have a multiplicative identity. Noncommutative integral domains are sometimes admitted. This article, however, follows the much more usual convention of reserving the term "integral domain" for the commutative case and using "domain" for the general case including noncommutative rings. Some sources, notably Lang, use the term entir ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Abelian Group
In mathematics, an abelian group, also called a commutative group, is a group in which the result of applying the group operation to two group elements does not depend on the order in which they are written. That is, the group operation is commutative. With addition as an operation, the integers and the real numbers form abelian groups, and the concept of an abelian group may be viewed as a generalization of these examples. Abelian groups are named after early 19th century mathematician Niels Henrik Abel. The concept of an abelian group underlies many fundamental algebraic structures, such as fields, rings, vector spaces, and algebras. The theory of abelian groups is generally simpler than that of their non-abelian counterparts, and finite abelian groups are very well understood and fully classified. Definition An abelian group is a set A, together with an operation \cdot that combines any two elements a and b of A to form another element of A, denoted a \cdot b. The symbo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Continuum Hypothesis
In mathematics, the continuum hypothesis (abbreviated CH) is a hypothesis about the possible sizes of infinite sets. It states that or equivalently, that In Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory with the axiom of choice (ZFC), this is equivalent to the following equation in aleph numbers: 2^=\aleph_1, or even shorter with beth numbers: \beth_1 = \aleph_1. The continuum hypothesis was advanced by Georg Cantor in 1878, and establishing its truth or falsehood is the first of Hilbert's 23 problems presented in 1900. The answer to this problem is independent of ZFC, so that either the continuum hypothesis or its negation can be added as an axiom to ZFC set theory, with the resulting theory being consistent if and only if ZFC is consistent. This independence was proved in 1963 by Paul Cohen, complementing earlier work by Kurt Gödel in 1940. The name of the hypothesis comes from the term '' the continuum'' for the real numbers. History Cantor believed the continuum hypothesis to be ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Characteristic Of A Field
In mathematics, the characteristic of a ring , often denoted , is defined to be the smallest number of times one must use the ring's multiplicative identity (1) in a sum to get the additive identity (0). If this sum never reaches the additive identity the ring is said to have characteristic zero. That is, is the smallest positive number such that: :\underbrace_ = 0 if such a number exists, and otherwise. Motivation The special definition of the characteristic zero is motivated by the equivalent definitions characterized in the next section, where the characteristic zero is not required to be considered separately. The characteristic may also be taken to be the exponent of the ring's additive group, that is, the smallest positive integer such that: :\underbrace_ = 0 for every element of the ring (again, if exists; otherwise zero). Some authors do not include the multiplicative identity element in their requirements for a ring (see Multiplicative identity and the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Differentially Closed Field
In mathematics, a differential field ''K'' is differentially closed if every finite system of differential equations with a solution in some differential field extending ''K'' already has a solution in ''K''. This concept was introduced by . Differentially closed fields are the analogues for differential equations of algebraically closed fields for polynomial equations. The theory of differentially closed fields We recall that a differential field is a field equipped with a derivation operator. Let ''K'' be a differential field with derivation operator ∂. *A differential polynomial in ''x'' is a polynomial in the formal expressions ''x'', ∂''x'', ∂2''x'', ... with coefficients in ''K''. *The order of a non-zero differential polynomial in ''x'' is the largest ''n'' such that ∂''n''''x'' occurs in it, or −1 if the differential polynomial is a constant. *The separant ''S''''f'' of a differential polynomial of order ''n''≥0 is the derivative of ''f'' with respect to â ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hyperbolic Group
In group theory, more precisely in geometric group theory, a hyperbolic group, also known as a ''word hyperbolic group'' or ''Gromov hyperbolic group'', is a finitely generated group equipped with a word metric satisfying certain properties abstracted from classical hyperbolic geometry. The notion of a hyperbolic group was introduced and developed by . The inspiration came from various existing mathematical theories: hyperbolic geometry but also low-dimensional topology (in particular the results of Max Dehn concerning the fundamental group of a hyperbolic Riemann surface, and more complex phenomena in three-dimensional topology), and combinatorial group theory. In a very influential (over 1000 citations ) chapter from 1987, Gromov proposed a wide-ranging research program. Ideas and foundational material in the theory of hyperbolic groups also stem from the work of George Mostow, William Thurston, James W. Cannon, Eliyahu Rips, and many others. Definition Let G be a finitely g ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Torsion-free Group
In mathematics, specifically in ring theory, a torsion element is an element of a module that yields zero when multiplied by some non-zero-divisor of the ring. The torsion submodule of a module is the submodule formed by the torsion elements. A torsion module is a module that equals its torsion submodule. A module is torsion-free if its torsion submodule comprises only the zero element. This terminology is more commonly used for modules over a domain, that is, when the regular elements of the ring are all its nonzero elements. This terminology applies to abelian groups (with "module" and "submodule" replaced by "group" and "subgroup"). This is allowed by the fact that the abelian groups are the modules over the ring of integers (in fact, this is the origin of the terminology, that has been introduced for abelian groups before being generalized to modules). In the case of groups that are noncommutative, a ''torsion element'' is an element of finite order. Contrary to the commuta ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Free Group
In mathematics, the free group ''F''''S'' over a given set ''S'' consists of all words that can be built from members of ''S'', considering two words to be different unless their equality follows from the group axioms (e.g. ''st'' = ''suu''−1''t'', but ''s'' ≠''t''−1 for ''s'',''t'',''u'' ∈ ''S''). The members of ''S'' are called generators of ''F''''S'', and the number of generators is the rank of the free group. An arbitrary group ''G'' is called free if it is isomorphic to ''F''''S'' for some subset ''S'' of ''G'', that is, if there is a subset ''S'' of ''G'' such that every element of ''G'' can be written in exactly one way as a product of finitely many elements of ''S'' and their inverses (disregarding trivial variations such as ''st'' = ''suu''−1''t''). A related but different notion is a free abelian group; both notions are particular instances of a free object from universal algebra. As such, free groups are defined by their universal property. History Free ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ring (mathematics)
In mathematics, rings are algebraic structures that generalize fields: multiplication need not be commutative and multiplicative inverses need not exist. In other words, a ''ring'' is a set equipped with two binary operations satisfying properties analogous to those of addition and multiplication of integers. Ring elements may be numbers such as integers or complex numbers, but they may also be non-numerical objects such as polynomials, square matrices, functions, and power series. Formally, a ''ring'' is an abelian group whose operation is called ''addition'', with a second binary operation called ''multiplication'' that is associative, is distributive over the addition operation, and has a multiplicative identity element. (Some authors use the term " " with a missing i to refer to the more general structure that omits this last requirement; see .) Whether a ring is commutative (that is, whether the order in which two elements are multiplied might change the result) has ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Module (mathematics)
In mathematics, a module is a generalization of the notion of vector space in which the field of scalars is replaced by a ring. The concept of ''module'' generalizes also the notion of abelian group, since the abelian groups are exactly the modules over the ring of integers. Like a vector space, a module is an additive abelian group, and scalar multiplication is distributive over the operation of addition between elements of the ring or module and is compatible with the ring multiplication. Modules are very closely related to the representation theory of groups. They are also one of the central notions of commutative algebra and homological algebra, and are used widely in algebraic geometry and algebraic topology. Introduction and definition Motivation In a vector space, the set of scalars is a field and acts on the vectors by scalar multiplication, subject to certain axioms such as the distributive law. In a module, the scalars need only be a ring, so the module conc ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Real Closed Field
In mathematics, a real closed field is a field ''F'' that has the same first-order properties as the field of real numbers. Some examples are the field of real numbers, the field of real algebraic numbers, and the field of hyperreal numbers. Definitions A real closed field is a field ''F'' in which any of the following equivalent conditions is true: #''F'' is elementarily equivalent to the real numbers. In other words, it has the same first-order properties as the reals: any sentence in the first-order language of fields is true in ''F'' if and only if it is true in the reals. #There is a total order on ''F'' making it an ordered field such that, in this ordering, every positive element of ''F'' has a square root in ''F'' and any polynomial of odd degree with coefficients in ''F'' has at least one root in ''F''. #''F'' is a formally real field such that every polynomial of odd degree with coefficients in ''F'' has at least one root in ''F'', and for every element ''a'' of ''F'' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |