Making a collection of sets as a group

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the concept of constructing a collection of sets that can function as a group. Participants explore the definitions of group operations, identity, and inverses in the context of sets, as well as the possibility of these sets also forming a topology.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant proposes a collection of single-element sets as a group, defining addition, identity, and inverses based on integers.
  • Another participant suggests using symmetric difference as a potential operation for the group of sets.
  • A further inquiry is made about whether the collection of sets can simultaneously be a topology and a group, with a specific interest in defining operations that meet both criteria.
  • One participant agrees that it is possible for the collection to be a topology, providing an example of the discrete topology on a nonempty set and suggesting it can also be turned into a group.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express varying degrees of agreement on the possibility of defining a collection of sets as both a topology and a group, but the specifics of how to achieve this remain contested and unresolved.

Contextual Notes

The discussion includes assumptions about the nature of group operations and the properties of topologies that are not fully explored or defined, leaving open questions about the compatibility of these structures.

Who May Find This Useful

Readers interested in abstract algebra, topology, and the interplay between different mathematical structures may find this discussion relevant.

infinityQ
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Any example of making a collection of sets as a group?

Let's say, we have a collection of sets, called H. Each element of H is a set, and it works as a group element. So we have a group H whose elements correspond to sets.
The group can be constructed easily for some trivial cases.

For instance, H = {...,{-3}, {-2}, {-1}, {0}, {1}, {2}, {3},,,}, where H consists of single-element sets and each {x} corresponds to an integer x∈Z.

addition : {a} + {b} = {c} (a,b,c ∈ Z}
identity : {0}
inverse of {a} = {-a}

When I tried to make a collection of different size of sets, I couldn't figure out how to define multiplication (or addition), identity and inverse on sets for group operations.

Any advice or example?

Thanks in advance.
 
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Try using symmetric difference. You may have to designate an element of H to act like the empty set.
 
Thanks a lot. It is a good example for me.
Now I have a further question.

Is there any case for above H to be both topology and group?
For example, we have a collection of sets, called H. Let H be a topology on an arbitrary set X and suppose we define a group operation on H such that each open set except H itself (since a group does not have an element of itself) corresponds to each group element.

Is it possible to define H like above or similar way such that H to be both a topology and group? If possible, any example for this?
 
Well, yeah, I guess H can be a topology. But of course it doesn't have to be.

As an example, take any (nonempty) set X. Let H be the set of all subsets of X. H is a topology on X (the discrete topology). And we can turn it into a group.
 

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