Partially ordered set in the context of Lattice theory

A lattice is an abstract structure studied in the mathematical subdisciplines of order theory and abstract algebra. It consists of a partially ordered set in which every pair of elements has a unique supremum (also called a least upper bound or join) and a unique infimum (also called a greatest lower bound or meet). An example is given by the power set of a set, partially ordered by inclusion, for which the supremum is the union and the infimum is the intersection. Another example is given by the natural numbers, partially ordered by divisibility, for which the supremum is the least common multiple and the infimum is the greatest common divisor.

Lattices can also be characterized as algebraic structures satisfying certain axiomatic identities. Since the two definitions are equivalent, lattice theory draws on both order theory and universal algebra. Semilattices include lattices, which in turn include Heyting and Boolean algebras. These lattice-like structures all admit order-theoretic as well as algebraic descriptions.

In order theory, a Hasse diagram (/ˈhæsə/; German: [ˈhasə]) is a type of mathematical diagram used to represent a finite partially ordered set, in the form of a drawing of its transitive reduction. Concretely, for a partially ordered set ${\displaystyle (S,\leq )}$ one represents each element of ${\displaystyle S}$ as a vertex in the plane and draws a line segment or curve that goes upward from one vertex ${\displaystyle x}$ to another vertex ${\displaystyle y}$ whenever ${\displaystyle y}$ covers ${\displaystyle x}$ (that is, whenever ${\displaystyle x\neq y}$, ${\displaystyle x\leq y}$ and there is no ${\displaystyle z}$ distinct from ${\displaystyle x}$ and ${\displaystyle y}$ with ${\displaystyle x\leq z\leq y}$). These curves may cross each other but must not touch any vertices other than their endpoints. Such a diagram, with labeled vertices, uniquely determines its partial order.

Hasse diagrams are named after Helmut Hasse (1898–1979); according to Garrett Birkhoff, they are so called because of the effective use Hasse made of them. However, Hasse was not the first to use these diagrams. One example that predates Hasse can be found in an 1895 work by Henri Gustave Vogt. Although Hasse diagrams were originally devised as a technique for making drawings of partially ordered sets by hand, they have more recently been created automatically using graph drawing techniques.

The infimum is, in a precise sense, dual to the concept of a supremum. Infima and suprema of real numbers are common special cases that are important in analysis, and especially in Lebesgue integration. However, the general definitions remain valid in the more abstract setting of order theory where arbitrary partially ordered sets are considered.

In mathematics, specifically order theory, the join of a subset ${\displaystyle S}$ of a partially ordered set ${\displaystyle P}$ is the supremum (least upper bound) of ${\displaystyle S,}$ denoted ${\textstyle \bigvee S,}$ and similarly, the meet of ${\displaystyle S}$ is the infimum (greatest lower bound), denoted ${\textstyle \bigwedge S.}$ In general, the join and meet of a subset of a partially ordered set need not exist. Join and meet are dual to one another with respect to order inversion.

A partially ordered set in which all pairs have a join is a join-semilattice. Dually, a partially ordered set in which all pairs have a meet is a meet-semilattice. A partially ordered set that is both a join-semilattice and a meet-semilattice is a lattice. A lattice in which every subset, not just every pair, possesses a meet and a join is a complete lattice. It is also possible to define a partial lattice, in which not all pairs have a meet or join but the operations (when defined) satisfy certain axioms.

In mathematics, a join-semilattice (or upper semilattice) is a partially ordered set that has a join (a least upper bound) for any nonempty finite subset. Dually, a meet-semilattice (or lower semilattice) is a partially ordered set which has a meet (or greatest lower bound) for any nonempty finite subset. Every join-semilattice is a meet-semilattice in the inverse order and vice versa.

Semilattices can also be defined algebraically: join and meet are associative, commutative, idempotent binary operations, and any such operation induces a partial order (and the respective inverse order) such that the result of the operation for any two elements is the least upper bound (or greatest lower bound) of the elements with respect to this partial order.

In mathematics, especially order theory, the covering relation of a partially ordered set is the binary relation which holds between comparable elements that are immediate neighbours. The covering relation is commonly used to graphically express the partial order by means of the Hasse diagram.

Zorn's lemma, also known as the Kuratowski–Zorn lemma, is a proposition of set theory. It states that a partially ordered set containing upper bounds for every chain (that is, every totally ordered subset) necessarily contains at least one maximal element.

The lemma was proven (assuming the axiom of choice) by Kazimierz Kuratowski in 1922 and independently by Max Zorn in 1935. It occurs in the proofs of several theorems of crucial importance, for instance the Hahn–Banach theorem in functional analysis, the theorem that every vector space has a basis, Tychonoff's theorem in topology stating that every product of compact spaces is compact, and the theorems in abstract algebra that in a ring with identity every proper ideal is contained in a maximal ideal and that every field has an algebraic closure.

In set theory, a tree is a partially ordered set ${\displaystyle (T,<)}$ such that for each ${\displaystyle t\in T}$, the set ${\displaystyle \{s\in T:s<t\}}$ is well-ordered by the relation ${\displaystyle <}$. Frequently trees are assumed to have only one root (i.e. minimal element), as the typical questions investigated in this field are easily reduced to questions about single-rooted trees.

In mathematics, especially in order theory, the greatest element of a subset ${\displaystyle S}$ of a partially ordered set (poset) is an element of ${\displaystyle S}$ that is greater than every other element of ${\displaystyle S}$. The term least element is defined dually, that is, it is an element of ${\displaystyle S}$ that is smaller than every other element of ${\displaystyle S.}$

In mathematics, especially in order theory, a maximal element of a subset ${\displaystyle S}$ of some preordered set is an element of ${\displaystyle S}$ that is not smaller than any other element in ${\displaystyle S}$. A minimal element of a subset ${\displaystyle S}$ of some preordered set is defined dually as an element of ${\displaystyle S}$ that is not greater than any other element in ${\displaystyle S}$.

The notions of maximal and minimal elements are weaker than those of greatest element and least element which are also known, respectively, as maximum and minimum. The maximum of a subset ${\displaystyle S}$ of a preordered set is an element of ${\displaystyle S}$ which is greater than or equal to any other element of ${\displaystyle S,}$ and the minimum of ${\displaystyle S}$ is again defined dually. In the particular case of a partially ordered set, while there can be at most one maximum and at most one minimum there may be multiple maximal or minimal elements. Specializing further to totally ordered sets, the notions of maximal element and maximum coincide, and the notions of minimal element and minimum coincide.

In mathematics, an abstract polytope is an algebraic partially ordered set which captures certain combinatorial properties of a traditional polytope without specifying purely geometric properties such as the position of vertices.

A geometric polytope is said to be a realization of an abstract polytope in some real n-dimensional space, typically Euclidean. This abstract definition allows more general combinatorial structures than traditional definitions of a polytope, thus allowing new objects that have no counterpart in traditional theory.

In mathematics, there is an ample supply of categorical dualities between certain categories of topological spaces and categories of partially ordered sets. Today, these dualities are usually collected under the label Stone duality, since they form a natural generalization of Stone's representation theorem for Boolean algebras. These concepts are named in honor of Marshall Stone. Stone-type dualities also provide the foundation for pointless topology and are exploited in theoretical computer science for the study of formal semantics.

This article gives pointers to special cases of Stone duality and explains a very general instance thereof in detail.

In the mathematical area of order theory, every partially ordered set P gives rise to a dual (or opposite) partially ordered set which is often denoted by P or P. This dual order P is defined to be the same set, but with the inverse order, i.e. x ≤ y holds in P if and only if y ≤ x holds in P. It is easy to see that this construction, which can be depicted by flipping the Hasse diagram for P upside down, will indeed yield a partially ordered set. In a broader sense, two partially ordered sets are also said to be duals if they are dually isomorphic, i.e. if one poset is order isomorphic to the dual of the other.

The importance of this simple definition stems from the fact that every definition and theorem of order theory can readily be transferred to the dual order. Formally, this is captured by the Duality Principle for ordered sets: