Free objectIn mathematics, the idea of a free object is one of the basic concepts of abstract algebra. Informally, a free object over a set A can be thought of as being a "generic" algebraic structure over A: the only equations that hold between elements of the free object are those that follow from the defining axioms of the algebraic structure. Examples include free groups, tensor algebras, or free lattices. The concept is a part of universal algebra, in the sense that it relates to all types of algebraic structure (with finitary operations).
MultisetIn mathematics, a multiset (or bag, or mset) is a modification of the concept of a set that, unlike a set, allows for multiple instances for each of its elements. The number of instances given for each element is called the multiplicity of that element in the multiset. As a consequence, an infinite number of multisets exist which contain only elements a and b, but vary in the multiplicities of their elements: The set contains only elements a and b, each having multiplicity 1 when is seen as a multiset.
MonoidIn abstract algebra, a branch of mathematics, a monoid is a set equipped with an associative binary operation and an identity element. For example, the nonnegative integers with addition form a monoid, the identity element being 0. Monoids are semigroups with identity. Such algebraic structures occur in several branches of mathematics. The functions from a set into itself form a monoid with respect to function composition. More generally, in , the morphisms of an to itself form a monoid, and, conversely, a monoid may be viewed as a category with a single object.
Alphabet (formal languages)In formal language theory, an alphabet, sometimes called a vocabulary, is a non-empty set of indivisible symbols/glyphs, typically thought of as representing letters, characters, digits, phonemes, or even words. Alphabets in this technical sense of a set are used in a diverse range of fields including logic, mathematics, computer science, and linguistics. An alphabet may have any cardinality ("size") and depending on its purpose maybe be finite (e.g., the alphabet of letters "a" through "z"), countable (e.
SemigroupIn mathematics, a semigroup is an algebraic structure consisting of a set together with an associative internal binary operation on it. The binary operation of a semigroup is most often denoted multiplicatively (just notation, not necessarily the elementary arithmetic multiplication): x·y, or simply xy, denotes the result of applying the semigroup operation to the ordered pair (x, y). Associativity is formally expressed as that (x·y)·z = x·(y·z) for all x, y and z in the semigroup.
Transformation semigroupIn algebra, a transformation semigroup (or composition semigroup) is a collection of transformations (functions from a set to itself) that is closed under function composition. If it includes the identity function, it is a monoid, called a transformation (or composition) monoid. This is the semigroup analogue of a permutation group. A transformation semigroup of a set has a tautological semigroup action on that set. Such actions are characterized by being faithful, i.e., if two elements of the semigroup have the same action, then they are equal.
SubstringIn formal language theory and computer science, a substring is a contiguous sequence of characters within a string. For instance, "the best of" is a substring of "It was the best of times". In contrast, "Itwastimes" is a subsequence of "It was the best of times", but not a substring. Prefixes and suffixes are special cases of substrings. A prefix of a string is a substring of that occurs at the beginning of ; likewise, a suffix of a string is a substring that occurs at the end of .
SemilatticeIn 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.
SemiringIn abstract algebra, a semiring is an algebraic structure. It is a generalization of a ring, dropping the requirement that each element must have an additive inverse. At the same time, it is a generalization of bounded distributive lattices. The smallest semiring that is not a ring is the two-element Boolean algebra, e.g. with logical disjunction as addition. A motivating example that is neither a ring nor a lattice is the set of natural numbers under ordinary addition and multiplication, when including the number zero.
Fold (higher-order function)In functional programming, fold (also termed reduce, accumulate, aggregate, compress, or inject) refers to a family of higher-order functions that analyze a recursive data structure and through use of a given combining operation, recombine the results of recursively processing its constituent parts, building up a return value. Typically, a fold is presented with a combining function, a top node of a data structure, and possibly some default values to be used under certain conditions.
