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Alg 8

algebra

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4 views

Alg 8

algebra

Uploaded by

nayellemaepamogas
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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For the academic journal, see Algebraic Combinatorics (journal).

The Fano matroid, derived from the Fano plane. Matroids are one of many kinds of objects studied in
algebraic combinatorics.

Algebraic combinatorics is an area of mathematics that employs methods of abstract algebra, notably
group theory and representation theory, in various combinatorial contexts and, conversely, applies
combinatorial techniques to problems in algebra.

History

The term "algebraic combinatorics" was introduced in the late 1970s.[1] Through the early or mid-
1990s, typical combinatorial objects of interest in algebraic combinatorics either admitted a lot of
symmetries (association schemes, strongly regular graphs, posets with a group action) or possessed a
rich algebraic structure, frequently of representation theoretic origin (symmetric functions, Young
tableaux). This period is reflected in the area 05E, Algebraic combinatorics, of the AMS Mathematics
Subject Classification, introduced in 1991.

Scope

Algebraic combinatorics has come to be seen more expansively as an area of mathematics where the
interaction of combinatorial and algebraic methods is particularly strong and significant. Thus the
combinatorial topics may be enumerative in nature or involve matroids, polytopes, partially ordered
sets, or finite geometries. On the algebraic side, besides group theory and representation theory, lattice
theory and commutative algebra are commonly used.

Important topics

Symmetric functions

Main article: Ring of symmetric functions

The ring of symmetric functions is a specific limit of the rings of symmetric polynomials in n
indeterminates, as n goes to infinity. This ring serves as universal structure in which relations between
symmetric polynomials can be expressed in a way independent of the number n of indeterminates (but
its elements are neither polynomials nor functions). Among other things, this ring plays an important
role in the representation theory of the symmetric groups.

Association schemes

Main article: Association scheme


An association scheme is a collection of binary relations satisfying certain compatibility conditions.
Association schemes provide a unified approach to many topics, for example combinatorial designs and
coding theory.[2][3] In algebra, association schemes generalize groups, and the theory of association
schemes generalizes the character theory of linear representations of groups.[4][5][6]

Strongly regular graphs

Main article: Strongly regular graph

A strongly regular graph is defined as follows. Let G = (V,E) be a regular graph with v vertices and degree
k. G is said to be strongly regular if there are also integers λ and μ such that:

Every two adjacent vertices have λ common neighbours.

Every two non-adjacent vertices have μ common neighbours.

A graph of this kind is sometimes said to be a srg(v, k, λ, μ).

Some authors exclude graphs which satisfy the definition trivially, namely those graphs which are the
disjoint union of one or more equal-sized complete graphs,[7][8] and their complements, the Turán
graphs.

Young tableaux

Main article: Young tableau

A Young tableau (pl.: tableaux) is a combinatorial object useful in representation theory and Schubert
calculus. It provides a convenient way to describe the group representations of the symmetric and
general linear groups and to study their properties. Young tableaux were introduced by Alfred Young, a
mathematician at Cambridge University, in 1900. They were then applied to the study of the symmetric
group by Georg Frobenius in 1903. Their theory was further developed by many mathematicians,
including Percy MacMahon, W. V. D. Hodge, G. de B. Robinson, Gian-Carlo Rota, Alain Lascoux, Marcel-
Paul Schützenberger and Richard P. Stanley.

Matroids

Main article: Matroid

A matroid is a structure that captures and generalizes the notion of linear independence in vector
spaces. There are many equivalent ways to define a matroid, the most significant being in terms of
independent sets, bases, circuits, closed sets or flats, closure operators, and rank functions.
Matroid theory borrows extensively from the terminology of linear algebra and graph theory, largely
because it is the abstraction of various notions of central importance in these fields. Matroids have
found applications in geometry, topology, combinatorial optimization, network theory and coding
theory.[9][10]

Finite geometries

Main article: Finite geometry

A finite geometry is any geometric system that has only a finite number of points. The familiar Euclidean
geometry is not finite, because a Euclidean line contains infinitely many points. A geometry based on the
graphics displayed on a computer screen, where the pixels are considered to be the points, would be a
finite geometry. While there are many systems that could be called finite geometries, attention is mostly
paid to the finite projective and affine spaces because of their regularity and simplicity. Other significant
types of finite geometry are finite Möbius or inversive planes and Laguerre planes, which are examples
of a general type called Benz planes, and their higher-dimensional analogs such as higher finite inversive
geometries.

Finite geometries may be constructed via linear algebra, starting from vector spaces over a finite field;
the affine and projective planes so constructed are called Galois geometries. Finite geometries can also
be defined purely axiomatically. Most common finite geometries are Galois geometries, since any finite
projective space of dimension three or greater is isomorphic to a projective space over a finite field (that
is, the projectivization of a vector space over a finite field). However, dimension two has affine and
projective planes that are not isomorphic to Galois geometries, namely the non-Desarguesian planes.
Similar results hold for other kinds of finite geometries.

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