IsomorphismIn mathematics, an isomorphism is a structure-preserving mapping between two structures of the same type that can be reversed by an inverse mapping. Two mathematical structures are isomorphic if an isomorphism exists between them. The word isomorphism is derived from the Ancient Greek: ἴσος isos "equal", and μορφή morphe "form" or "shape". The interest in isomorphisms lies in the fact that two isomorphic objects have the same properties (excluding further information such as additional structure or names of objects).
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).
Isomorphism theoremsIn mathematics, specifically abstract algebra, the isomorphism theorems (also known as Noether's isomorphism theorems) are theorems that describe the relationship between quotients, homomorphisms, and subobjects. Versions of the theorems exist for groups, rings, vector spaces, modules, Lie algebras, and various other algebraic structures. In universal algebra, the isomorphism theorems can be generalized to the context of algebras and congruences.
Fundamental theorem on homomorphismsIn abstract algebra, the fundamental theorem on homomorphisms, also known as the fundamental homomorphism theorem, or the first isomorphism theorem, relates the structure of two objects between which a homomorphism is given, and of the kernel and of the homomorphism. The homomorphism theorem is used to prove the isomorphism theorems. Given two groups G and H and a group homomorphism f : G → H, let N be a normal subgroup in G and φ the natural surjective homomorphism G → G/N (where G/N is the quotient group of G by N).
Group isomorphismIn abstract algebra, a group isomorphism is a function between two groups that sets up a one-to-one correspondence between the elements of the groups in a way that respects the given group operations. If there exists an isomorphism between two groups, then the groups are called isomorphic. From the standpoint of group theory, isomorphic groups have the same properties and need not be distinguished.
Group homomorphismIn mathematics, given two groups, (G, ∗) and (H, ·), a group homomorphism from (G, ∗) to (H, ·) is a function h : G → H such that for all u and v in G it holds that where the group operation on the left side of the equation is that of G and on the right side that of H. From this property, one can deduce that h maps the identity element eG of G to the identity element eH of H, and it also maps inverses to inverses in the sense that Hence one can say that h "is compatible with the group structure".
Order isomorphismIn the mathematical field of order theory, an order isomorphism is a special kind of monotone function that constitutes a suitable notion of isomorphism for partially ordered sets (posets). Whenever two posets are order isomorphic, they can be considered to be "essentially the same" in the sense that either of the orders can be obtained from the other just by renaming of elements. Two strictly weaker notions that relate to order isomorphisms are order embeddings and Galois connections.
QuaternionIn mathematics, the quaternion number system extends the complex numbers. Quaternions were first described by the Irish mathematician William Rowan Hamilton in 1843 and applied to mechanics in three-dimensional space. Hamilton defined a quaternion as the quotient of two directed lines in a three-dimensional space, or, equivalently, as the quotient of two vectors. Multiplication of quaternions is noncommutative. Quaternions are generally represented in the form where a, b, c, and d are real numbers; and 1, i, j, and k are the basis vectors or basis elements.
Quotient groupA quotient group or factor group is a mathematical group obtained by aggregating similar elements of a larger group using an equivalence relation that preserves some of the group structure (the rest of the structure is "factored" out). For example, the cyclic group of addition modulo n can be obtained from the group of integers under addition by identifying elements that differ by a multiple of and defining a group structure that operates on each such class (known as a congruence class) as a single entity.
Quaternion groupIn group theory, the quaternion group Q8 (sometimes just denoted by Q) is a non-abelian group of order eight, isomorphic to the eight-element subset of the quaternions under multiplication. It is given by the group presentation where e is the identity element and commutes with the other elements of the group. Another presentation of Q8 is The quaternion group Q8 has the same order as the dihedral group D4, but a different structure, as shown by their Cayley and cycle graphs: In the diagrams for D4, the group elements are marked with their action on a letter F in the defining representation R2.
Quotient ringIn ring theory, a branch of abstract algebra, a quotient ring, also known as factor ring, difference ring or residue class ring, is a construction quite similar to the quotient group in group theory and to the quotient space in linear algebra. It is a specific example of a quotient, as viewed from the general setting of universal algebra. Starting with a ring R and a two-sided ideal I in R, a new ring, the quotient ring R / I, is constructed, whose elements are the cosets of I in R subject to special + and ⋅ operations.
Commutator subgroupIn mathematics, more specifically in abstract algebra, the commutator subgroup or derived subgroup of a group is the subgroup generated by all the commutators of the group. The commutator subgroup is important because it is the smallest normal subgroup such that the quotient group of the original group by this subgroup is abelian. In other words, is abelian if and only if contains the commutator subgroup of . So in some sense it provides a measure of how far the group is from being abelian; the larger the commutator subgroup is, the "less abelian" the group is.
Algebra homomorphismIn mathematics, an algebra homomorphism is a homomorphism between two algebras. More precisely, if A and B are algebras over a field (or a ring) K, it is a function such that, for all k in K and x, y in A, one has The first two conditions say that F is a K-linear map, and the last condition says that F preserves the algebra multiplication. So, if the algebras are associative, F is a rng homomorphism, and, if the algebras are rings and F preserves the identity, it is a ring homomorphism.
Module homomorphismIn algebra, a module homomorphism is a function between modules that preserves the module structures. Explicitly, if M and N are left modules over a ring R, then a function is called an R-module homomorphism or an R-linear map if for any x, y in M and r in R, In other words, f is a group homomorphism (for the underlying additive groups) that commutes with scalar multiplication. If M, N are right R-modules, then the second condition is replaced with The of the zero element under f is called the kernel of f.
Graph isomorphismIn graph theory, an isomorphism of graphs G and H is a bijection between the vertex sets of G and H such that any two vertices u and v of G are adjacent in G if and only if and are adjacent in H. This kind of bijection is commonly described as "edge-preserving bijection", in accordance with the general notion of isomorphism being a structure-preserving bijection. If an isomorphism exists between two graphs, then the graphs are called isomorphic and denoted as . In the case when the bijection is a mapping of a graph onto itself, i.
Subgraph isomorphism problemIn theoretical computer science, the subgraph isomorphism problem is a computational task in which two graphs G and H are given as input, and one must determine whether G contains a subgraph that is isomorphic to H. Subgraph isomorphism is a generalization of both the maximum clique problem and the problem of testing whether a graph contains a Hamiltonian cycle, and is therefore NP-complete. However certain other cases of subgraph isomorphism may be solved in polynomial time.
Perfect groupIn mathematics, more specifically in group theory, a group is said to be perfect if it equals its own commutator subgroup, or equivalently, if the group has no non-trivial abelian quotients (equivalently, its abelianization, which is the universal abelian quotient, is trivial). In symbols, a perfect group is one such that G(1) = G (the commutator subgroup equals the group), or equivalently one such that Gab = {1} (its abelianization is trivial). The smallest (non-trivial) perfect group is the alternating group A5.
Quaternion algebraIn mathematics, a quaternion algebra over a field F is a central simple algebra A over F that has dimension 4 over F. Every quaternion algebra becomes a matrix algebra by extending scalars (equivalently, tensoring with a field extension), i.e. for a suitable field extension K of F, is isomorphic to the 2 × 2 matrix algebra over K. The notion of a quaternion algebra can be seen as a generalization of Hamilton's quaternions to an arbitrary base field.
Hurwitz quaternionIn mathematics, a Hurwitz quaternion (or Hurwitz integer) is a quaternion whose components are either all integers or all half-integers (halves of odd integers; a mixture of integers and half-integers is excluded). The set of all Hurwitz quaternions is That is, either a, b, c, d are all integers, or they are all half-integers. H is closed under quaternion multiplication and addition, which makes it a subring of the ring of all quaternions H. Hurwitz quaternions were introduced by .
Alternating groupIn mathematics, an alternating group is the group of even permutations of a finite set. The alternating group on a set of n elements is called the alternating group of degree n, or the alternating group on n letters and denoted by A_n or Alt(n). For n > 1, the group An is the commutator subgroup of the symmetric group Sn with index 2 and has therefore n!/2 elements. It is the kernel of the signature group homomorphism sgn : Sn → explained under symmetric group. The group An is abelian if and only if n ≤ 3 and simple if and only if n = 3 or n ≥ 5.
