3 ms·
someone who doesn't understand monoids probably doesn't have the mathemetical definition of a group memorized or is in their lexicon of terms at all.
by platz 6y ago
someone who doesn't understand monoids probably doesn't have the mathemetical definition of a group memorized or is in their lexicon of terms at all.
- pvg 6y agoYou can take a whole Abstract Algebra course without any mention of the term 'monoid'.
- nine_k 6y agoYes! I did.
- pvg 6y agoMade me wonder who came up with it to begin with, an answer from mathoverflow (short version - Bourbaki): https://mathoverflow.net/a/338282 https://mathoverflow.net/a/338282 The paper it mentions and links (The Early Development of the Algebraic Theory of Semigroups) is freely available and has a bunch of discussion of terminology.