irredundant


Definition. Let L be a latticeMathworldPlanetmathPlanetmath. A finite join

a1a2an

of elements in L is said to be irredundant if one can not delete an element from from the join without resulting in a smaller join. In other words,

{ajji}<a1a2an

for all i=1,,n.

If the join is not irredundant, it is redundant

Irredundant meets are dually defined.

Remark. The definitions above can be extended to the case where the join (or meet) is taken over an infiniteMathworldPlanetmath number of elements, provided that the join (or meet) exists.

Example. In the lattice of all subsets (ordered by inclusion) of , the set of all integers, the join

={pp is prime}

is irredudant. Another irredundant join representation of is just the join of all atoms, the singletons consisting of the individual elements of . However,

={nn is any positive integer}

is redundant, since n can be removed whenever n is a composite numberMathworldPlanetmath. The join of all doubletons is also redundant, for {a,b}{a,c}{c,b}, for any c{a,b}.

Definition. An element in a lattice is join irredundant if it can not be written as a redundant join of elements. Dually, an element is meet irredundant if each of its representation as a meet of elements is irredundant.

Example. In the two lattice diagrams (Hasse diagram) below,

\xymatrix&1\ar@-[ld]\ar@-[rd]\ar@-[d]a\ar@-[rd]&b\ar@-[d]&c\ar@-[ld]&0         \xymatrix&1\ar@-[ld]\ar@-[rd]a\ar@-[rd]&&b\ar@-[ld]&0

The 1 on the left diagram is not join irredundant, since 1=abc=ab. On the other hand, the 1 on the right is join irredundant. Similarly, the 0 on the right is not meet irredundant, while the corresponding one on the right is.

Title irredundant
Canonical name Irredundant
Date of creation 2013-03-22 18:10:08
Last modified on 2013-03-22 18:10:08
Owner CWoo (3771)
Last modified by CWoo (3771)
Numerical id 8
Author CWoo (3771)
Entry type Definition
Classification msc 06B05
Defines redundant
Defines irredundant meet
Defines irredundant join
Defines meet irredundant
Defines join irredundant