In
mathematics, a generating set Γ of a
module
Module, modular and modularity may refer to the concept of modularity. They may also refer to:
Computing and engineering
* Modular design, the engineering discipline of designing complex devices using separately designed sub-components
* Modul ...
''M'' over a
ring
Ring may refer to:
* Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry
* To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell
:(hence) to initiate a telephone connection
Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...
''R'' is a
subset of ''M'' such that the smallest
submodule of ''M'' containing Γ is ''M'' itself (the smallest submodule containing a subset is the
intersection of all submodules containing the set). The set Γ is then said to generate ''M''. For example, the ring ''R'' is generated by the identity element 1 as a left ''R''-module over itself. If there is a
finite
Finite is the opposite of infinite. It may refer to:
* Finite number (disambiguation)
* Finite set, a set whose cardinality (number of elements) is some natural number
* Finite verb
Traditionally, a finite verb (from la, fīnītus, past particip ...
generating set, then a module is said to be
finitely generated.
This applies to
ideals, which are the submodules of the ring itself. In particular, a
principal ideal is an ideal that has a generating set consisting of a single element.
Explicitly, if Γ is a generating set of a module ''M'', then every element of ''M'' is a (finite) ''R''-linear combination of some elements of Γ; i.e., for each ''x'' in ''M'', there are ''r''
1, ..., ''r''
''m'' in ''R'' and ''g''
1, ..., ''g''
''m'' in Γ such that
:
Put in another way, there is a
surjection
:
where we wrote ''r''
''g'' for an element in the ''g''-th component of the direct sum. (Coincidentally, since a generating set always exists, e.g. ''M'' itself, this shows that a module is a
quotient
In arithmetic, a quotient (from lat, quotiens 'how many times', pronounced ) is a quantity produced by the division of two numbers. The quotient has widespread use throughout mathematics, and is commonly referred to as the integer part of a ...
of a
free module, a useful fact.)
A generating set of a module is said to be minimal if no
proper subset of the set generates the module. If ''R'' is a
field
Field may refer to:
Expanses of open ground
* Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes
* Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport
* Battlefield
* Lawn, an area of mowed grass
* Meadow, a grass ...
, then a minimal generating set is the same thing as a
basis
Basis may refer to:
Finance and accounting
*Adjusted basis, the net cost of an asset after adjusting for various tax-related items
*Basis point, 0.01%, often used in the context of interest rates
*Basis trading, a trading strategy consisting of ...
. Unless the module is
finitely generated, there may exist no minimal generating set.
The
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 ...
of a minimal generating set need not be an invariant of the module; Z is generated as a principal ideal by 1, but it is also generated by, say, a minimal generating set . What ''is'' uniquely determined by a module is the
infimum of the numbers of the generators of the module.
Let ''R'' be a
local ring with
maximal ideal ''m'' and
residue field ''k'' and ''M'' finitely generated module. Then
Nakayama's lemma says that ''M'' has a minimal generating set whose cardinality is
. If ''M'' is
flat, then this minimal generating set is
linearly independent (so ''M'' is free). See also:
Minimal resolution.
A more refined information is obtained if one considers the relations between the generators; see
Free presentation of a module.
See also
*
Countably generated module In mathematics, a module over a (not necessarily commutative) ring is countably generated if it is generated as a module by a countable subset. The importance of the notion comes from Kaplansky's theorem (Kaplansky 1958), which states that a pr ...
*
Flat module
*
Invariant basis number
References
*Dummit, David; Foote, Richard. ''Abstract Algebra''.
Abstract algebra
{{algebra-stub