In
mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
, the term essentially unique is used to describe a weaker form of uniqueness, where an object satisfying a property is "unique" only in the sense that all objects satisfying the property are equivalent to each other. The notion of essential uniqueness presupposes some form of "sameness", which is often formalized using an
equivalence relation
In mathematics, an equivalence relation is a binary relation that is reflexive, symmetric and transitive. The equipollence relation between line segments in geometry is a common example of an equivalence relation.
Each equivalence relatio ...
.
A related notion is a
universal property
In mathematics, more specifically in category theory, a universal property is a property that characterizes up to an isomorphism the result of some constructions. Thus, universal properties can be used for defining some objects independently fr ...
, where an object is not only essentially unique, but unique ''up to a unique
isomorphism
In 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 i ...
'' (meaning that it has trivial
automorphism group). In general there can be more than one isomorphism between examples of an essentially unique object.
Examples
Set theory
At the most basic level, there is an essentially unique set of any given
cardinality
In mathematics, the cardinality of a set is a measure of the number of elements of the set. For example, the set A = \ contains 3 elements, and therefore A has a cardinality of 3. Beginning in the late 19th century, this concept was generalized ...
, whether one labels the elements
or
.
In this case, the non-uniqueness of the isomorphism (e.g., match 1 to
or 1 to ''
'') is reflected in the
symmetric group
In abstract algebra, the symmetric group defined over any set is the group whose elements are all the bijections from the set to itself, and whose group operation is the composition of functions. In particular, the finite symmetric group ...
.
On the other hand, there is an essentially unique ''ordered'' set of any given finite cardinality: if one writes
and
, then the only order-preserving isomorphism is the one which maps 1 to ''
,'' 2 to ''
,'' and 3 to ''
.''
Number theory
The
fundamental theorem of arithmetic establishes that the
factorization of any positive
integer
An integer is the number zero (), a positive natural number (, , , etc.) or a negative integer with a minus sign ( −1, −2, −3, etc.). The negative numbers are the additive inverses of the corresponding positive numbers. In the languag ...
into
prime number
A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a Product (mathematics), product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime ...
s is essentially unique, i.e., unique up to the ordering of the prime factors.
Group theory
In the context of classification of
groups, there is an essentially unique group containing exactly 2 elements.
Similarly, there is also an essentially unique group containing exactly 3 elements: the
cyclic group of order three. In fact, regardless of how one chooses to write the three elements and denote the group operation, all such groups can be shown to be
isomorphic
In 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 i ...
to each other, and hence are "the same".
On the other hand, there does not exist an essentially unique group with exactly 4 elements, as there are in this case two non-isomorphic groups in total: the cyclic group of order 4 and the
Klein four group
In mathematics, the Klein four-group is a group with four elements, in which each element is self-inverse (composing it with itself produces the identity)
and in which composing any two of the three non-identity elements produces the third one. ...
.
Measure theory
There is an essentially unique measure that is
translation-
invariant,
strictly positive and
locally finite on the
real line
In elementary mathematics, a number line is a picture of a graduated straight line that serves as visual representation of the real numbers. Every point of a number line is assumed to correspond to a real number, and every real number to a po ...
. In fact, any such measure must be a constant multiple of
Lebesgue measure
In measure theory, a branch of mathematics, the Lebesgue measure, named after French mathematician Henri Lebesgue, is the standard way of assigning a measure to subsets of ''n''-dimensional Euclidean space. For ''n'' = 1, 2, or 3, it coincides ...
, specifying that the measure of the unit interval should be 1—before determining the solution uniquely.
Topology
There is an essentially unique two-dimensional,
compact,
simply connected
In topology, a topological space is called simply connected (or 1-connected, or 1-simply connected) if it is path-connected and every path between two points can be continuously transformed (intuitively for embedded spaces, staying within the spac ...
manifold
In mathematics, a manifold is a topological space that locally resembles Euclidean space near each point. More precisely, an n-dimensional manifold, or ''n-manifold'' for short, is a topological space with the property that each point has a ...
: the
2-sphere
A sphere () is a geometrical object that is a three-dimensional analogue to a two-dimensional circle. A sphere is the set of points that are all at the same distance from a given point in three-dimensional space.. That given point is the ...
. In this case, it is unique up to
homeomorphism
In the mathematical field of topology, a homeomorphism, topological isomorphism, or bicontinuous function is a bijective and continuous function between topological spaces that has a continuous inverse function. Homeomorphisms are the isomo ...
.
In the area of topology known as
knot theory
In the mathematical field of topology, knot theory is the study of mathematical knots. While inspired by knots which appear in daily life, such as those in shoelaces and rope, a mathematical knot differs in that the ends are joined so it cannot ...
, there is an analogue of the fundamental theorem of arithmetic: the decomposition of a knot into a sum of
prime knots is essentially unique.
Lie theory
A
maximal compact subgroup of a
semisimple Lie group may not be unique, but is unique up to conjugation.
Category theory
An object that is the
limit or colimit over a given diagram is essentially unique, as there is a ''unique'' isomorphism to any other limiting/colimiting object.
Coding theory
Given the task of using 24-
bit
The bit is the most basic unit of information in computing and digital communications. The name is a portmanteau of binary digit. The bit represents a logical state with one of two possible values. These values are most commonly represente ...
words to store 12 bits of information in such a way that 7-bit errors can be detected and 3-bit errors can be corrected, the solution is essentially unique: the
extended binary Golay code.
See also
*
Classification theorem
In mathematics, a classification theorem answers the classification problem "What are the objects of a given type, up to some equivalence?". It gives a non-redundant enumeration: each object is equivalent to exactly one class.
A few issues relate ...
*
Modulo, a mathematical term pertaining to the equivalence of objects
*
Universal property
In mathematics, more specifically in category theory, a universal property is a property that characterizes up to an isomorphism the result of some constructions. Thus, universal properties can be used for defining some objects independently fr ...
*
Up to Two mathematical objects ''a'' and ''b'' are called equal up to an equivalence relation ''R''
* if ''a'' and ''b'' are related by ''R'', that is,
* if ''aRb'' holds, that is,
* if the equivalence classes of ''a'' and ''b'' with respect to ''R'' a ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Essentially Unique
Mathematical terminology