Abstract Algebra Generating Set
And the resulting cayley graph looks quite different.
Abstract algebra generating set. Mathmathbb z2timesmathbb zmath is generated by math0110math but as henning breede pointed out there are many more definitions for generators on other algebraic structures as well. A generating set captures the idea that starting with only a few elements of the group and then applying the group operation can be enough to eventually create or generate every element of the group. But that would be outside of classic universal algebra which deals with algebras endowed with finitary operations. We say that a group is generated by a set if the smallest subgroup which contains the set is the group itself.
In other words if s is a subset of a group g then s the subgroup generated by s is the smallest subgroup of g containing every element of s which is equal to the intersection over all subgroups containing the elements of s. You can actually still write any element of the dihedral group as a product of these two flips. The notion of subgroup generated by a set changes significantly if you add infinitary operation to the initial set of operations which is demonstrated by darth geeks examples. The larger set is then said to be generated by the smaller set.
In abstract algebra a generating set of a group is a subset of the group set such that every element of the group can be expressed as a combination of finitely many elements of the subset and their inverses. Lets call them f1 and f2. In mathematics and physics the term generator or generating set may refer to any of a number of related concepts. Equivalently s is the subgroup of all elements of g that.
It is commonly the case that the generating set has a simpler set of properties than the generated. Minimality in mathematics is the property of being as small as possible.