Lattices And Ordered Algebraic Structures

"The text can serve as an introduction to fundamentals in the respective areas from a residuated-maps perspective and with an eye on coordinatization. The historical notes that are interspersed are also worth mentioning....The exposition is thorough and all proofs that the reviewer checked were highly polished....Overall, the book is a well-done introduction from a distinct point of view and with exposure to the author’s research expertise." --MATHEMATICAL REVIEWS

This book is an outcome of the conference on ordered algebraic structures held at Nanjing. It covers a range of topics: lattice theory, ordered semi groups, partially ordered groups, totally ordered groups, lattice-ordered groups, and ordered fields.

This new edition of Introduction to Lattices and Order presents a radical reorganization and updating, though its primary aim is unchanged. The explosive development of theoretical computer science in recent years has, in particular, influenced the book's evolution: a fresh treatment of fixpoints testifies to this and Galois connections now feature prominently. An early presentation of concept analysis gives both a concrete foundation for the subsequent theory of complete lattices and a glimpse of a methodology for data analysis that is of commercial value in social science. Classroom experience has led to numerous pedagogical improvements and many new exercises have been added. As before, exposure to elementary abstract algebra and the notation of set theory are the only prerequisites, making the book suitable for advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students. It will also be a valuable resource for anyone who meets ordered structures.

From the 28th of February through the 3rd of March, 2001, the Department of Math ematics of the University of Florida hosted a conference on the many aspects of the field of Ordered Algebraic Structures. Officially, the title was "Conference on Lattice Ordered Groups and I-Rings", but its subject matter evolved beyond the limitations one might associate with such a label. This volume is officially the proceedings of that conference, although, likewise, it is more accurate to view it as a complement to that event. The conference was the fourth in wh at has turned into aseries of similar conferences, on Ordered Algebraic Structures, held in consecutive years. The first, held at the University of Florida in Spring, 1998, was a modest and informal affair. The fifth is in the final planning stages at this writing, for March 7-9, 2002, at Vanderbilt University. And although these events remain modest and reasonably informal, their scope has broadened, as they have succeeded in attracting mathematicians from other, related fields, as weIl as from more distant lands.

This book is intended to be a thorough introduction to the subject of order and lattices, with an emphasis on the latter. It can be used for a course at the graduate or advanced undergraduate level or for independent study. Prerequisites are kept to a minimum, but an introductory course in abstract algebra is highly recommended, since many of the examples are drawn from this area. This is a book on pure mathematics: I do not discuss the applications of lattice theory to physics, computer science or other disciplines. Lattice theory began in the early 1890s, when Richard Dedekind wanted to know the answer to the following question: Given three subgroups EF , and G of an abelian group K, what is the largest number of distinct subgroups that can be formed using these subgroups and the operations of intersection and sum (join), as in E?FßÐE?FÑ?GßE?ÐF?GÑ and so on? In lattice-theoretic terms, this is the number of elements in the relatively free modular lattice on three generators. Dedekind [15] answered this question (the answer is #)) and wrote two papers on the subject of lattice theory, but then the subject lay relatively dormant until Garrett Birkhoff, Oystein Ore and others picked it up in the 1930s. Since then, many noted mathematicians have contributed to the subject, including Garrett Birkhoff, Richard Dedekind, Israel Gelfand, George Grätzer, Aleksandr Kurosh, Anatoly Malcev, Oystein Ore, Gian-Carlo Rota, Alfred Tarski and Johnny von Neumann.

"The text can serve as an introduction to fundamentals in the respective areas from a residuated-maps perspective and with an eye on coordinatization. The historical notes that are interspersed are also worth mentioning....The exposition is thorough and all proofs that the reviewer checked were highly polished....Overall, the book is a well-done introduction from a distinct point of view and with exposure to the author’s research expertise." --MATHEMATICAL REVIEWS

The papers contained in this volume constitute the proceedings of the Special Session on Ordered Algebraic Structures which was held at the 1982 annual meeting of the American Mathematical Society in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Special Session and this volume honor Paul Conrad, whose work on the subject is noted for its depth and originality. These papers address many areas within the subject of ordered algebraic structures, including varieties, free algebras, lattice ordered groups, subgroups of ordered groups, semigroups, ordered rings, and topological properties of these structures.

Linear and Combinatorial Optimization in Ordered Algebraic Structures