Recent content by airpocket

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    Sum of Vector Spaces U & W in Linear Algebra Done Right

    Thanks so much. That makes sense. I didn't think about simplifying x + y.
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    Sum of Vector Spaces U & W in Linear Algebra Done Right

    The sum of two subspaces seems a simple enough concept to me, but I must be misunderstanding it since I don't understand why Axler gives an answer he does in Linear Algebra Done Right. Suppose U and W are subspaces of some vector space V. U = \{(x, 0, 0) \in \textbf{F}^3 : x \in...
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    Why is a semigroup called a semigroup?

    Yeah, closure as an explicit axiom does make it sound like a much better match to me, so that's probably it if you've seen it mentioned like that as an axiom. You've convinced me. Thanks again for your help.
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    Why is a semigroup called a semigroup?

    Thanks for the reply. You labeled your points 1 to 4 but you could just as easily split set and binary operation on the set into 2 separate points and then you'd have 1 through 5 (and semigroup=3, group=5). And that doesn't change the fact that the standard formulation is 1 property for a...
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    Why is a semigroup called a semigroup?

    This is a stupid question, but perhaps somebody else has had the same stupid question before and found an answer. Why is a <b>semi</b>group so named? If a group were a set and a binary operation satisfying 2 additional properties, then semigroup would be the perfect name, since it satisfies...
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