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6 votes
3 answers
551 views

Conjecture about commutative semigroups

Conjecture: given any commutative semigroup $S$ of order $n \ge 4$, there exist $a, b \in S$ with $a \ne b$, an integer $m \ge \lfloor (n-1)/2 \rfloor$, and two $m$-element subsets $X = \{x_1, \ldots, ...
Fabius Wiesner's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
423 views

Conjecture about semigroups

Let $G$ be a finite semigroup with order $n$ odd. Let $S_i \in G, i=1,\ldots,\binom{n}{(n+1)/2}$ be all the subsets of $G$ of size $(n+1)/2$. Let $E(S_i)$ be the set obtained "expanding" $...
Fabius Wiesner's user avatar
14 votes
4 answers
742 views

Prove or disprove: $R^{n+1} \supseteq R \cap R^2 \cap \cdots \cap R^n$ for every binary relation $R$ on a set of size $n$

Prove or disprove: $R^{n+1} \supseteq R \cap R^2 \cap \cdots \cap R^n$ for every binary relation $R$ on a set of size $n$. I have verified the statement for $n \leq 4$ with a Mathematica code. I have ...
Geoffrey Critzer's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
393 views

Algebra generated by transformation matrices

Let $T_n$ be the full transformation monoid of an $n$-set $N_n$ with elements 1,...,n consisting of all functions $f: N_n \rightarrow N_n$. We can associate to each function $f$ a matrix $M_f$ in the ...
Mare's user avatar
  • 26.5k
2 votes
0 answers
64 views

A particular generalization of free partially commutative monoids

A trace monoid, or free partially commutative monoid, is one with the presentation $\langle \Sigma \mid a_1b_1 = b_1a_1, \dots, a_nb_n = b_na_n\rangle$. The theory of trace monoids has been well ...
rotas's user avatar
  • 21
0 votes
1 answer
142 views

Left syndeticity and right syndeticity in nilpotent group

$\DeclareMathOperator\Pf{\mathcal{P}_\mathrm{f}}$Question: Does there exist any reference regarding the study of left and right syndeticity in nilpotent group? More specifically, did anyone introduce/...
Surajit's user avatar
  • 73
1 vote
0 answers
274 views

Functional equation $f(x*y) = f(f(x)*f(y))$

Find all endo-functions $f$ on a commutative semigroup $(\mathbb{S},*)$ such that $f(x*y) = f(f(x)*f(y))$. Typical case of interest are $(\mathbb{N},+)$ or $(\mathbb{Z}/k\mathbb{Z},+)$ or $(\mathbb{Z}/...
Jérôme JEAN-CHARLES's user avatar
6 votes
0 answers
190 views

The highest degree of a polynomial on a finite group

This question is motivated by the comments and the answer to this MO-question. First let us recall some definitions. A function $f:X\to X$ on a group $X$ is called a polynomial if there exists $n\in\...
Taras Banakh's user avatar
  • 41.8k
25 votes
2 answers
1k views

The number of polynomials on a finite group

A function $f:X\to X$ on a group $X$ is called a polynomial if there exist $n\in\mathbb N=\{1,2,3,\dots\}$ and elements $a_0,a_1,\dots,a_n\in X$ such that $f(x)=a_0xa_1x\cdots xa_n$ for all $x\in X$. ...
Taras Banakh's user avatar
  • 41.8k
6 votes
1 answer
135 views

Automorphisms of special egg-box diagrams

By a egg-box diagram I will simply mean a (possibly infinite) rectangular array of holes, with some of the holes containing an egg (denoted by a filled-in circle) and the rest of the holes are empty (...
Pace Nielsen's user avatar
  • 18.7k
15 votes
2 answers
655 views

Indecomposable contracting maps on the integers

$\def\ZZ{\mathbb{Z}}$Call a function $f : \ZZ \to \ZZ$ "contracting" if $$|f(j) - f(i)| \leq |j-i|$$ for all $i$, $j \in \ZZ$. The contracting functions form a monoid under composition; call ...
David E Speyer's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
889 views

Combinatorics for the action of Virasoro / Kac–Schwarz operators: partition polynomials of free probability theory

In the background sections below, I establish the relations among characterizations of the action of Virasoro / Kac–Schwarz operators of 2D gravity models presented in terms of Laurent series by ...
Tom Copeland's user avatar
  • 10.5k
7 votes
0 answers
194 views

Factoring a function from a finite set to itself

Let $S$ be a finite set and $f: S \to S$ be a function. Let $k = |f(S)|$ and let $\alpha$ be the partition of $S$ into $f$-fibers, i.e. $\alpha = \{ \alpha_t \}_{t \in f(S)}$ where $\alpha_t = f^{-1}(\...
Sophie M's user avatar
  • 695
8 votes
1 answer
645 views

Isomorphic morphisms. A 27-morphism category

Two morphisms of category $\ \mathbf C\ $ are isomorphic to one another $\ \Leftarrow:\Rightarrow\ $ they are the opposite edges that are drawn horizontally (aimed East) of a commutative square that ...
Wlod AA's user avatar
  • 4,786
2 votes
0 answers
203 views

Can the relation between count of commuting pairs and conjugacy classes for finite groups be generalized to semigroups?

It is well-known that number of pairs of commuting elements in finite group G is equal to number of conjugacy classes multiplied by cardinality of G. More generally here (MO275769) Qiaochu Yuan ...
Alexander Chervov's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
238 views

Functions over monoids which factor in two different ways

This is a follow-up question to this MO question, which was asked by Richard Stanley in a comment to my answer there. Let $S$ be a commutative monoid and $f(x_1, \dots, x_n)$ be a function from $S^n$ ...
Tony Huynh's user avatar
  • 32.1k
3 votes
0 answers
134 views

Partial orders on $\mathbb{N}^m$ compatible with addition

I'm looking for a classification (or just non-trivial examples) of partial orders on monoid $\mathbb{N}^{m}$ that are compatible with addition. That is, partial orders $\leq$ satisfying two additional ...
Rybin Dmitry's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
81 views

Size of the kernel (minimal ideal) of a finite semigroup

Let $A$ be an irreducible nonnegative $N\times N$ integer matrix with constant row sum $D$. Let $A_1, \dots, A_D$ be nonnegative integer matrices, each with constant row sum $1$, such that $\sum_k A_k ...
Sophie M's user avatar
  • 695
11 votes
0 answers
286 views

Does every finite poset have a rigid endomorphism?

Crossposted on Mathematics. In this post, an order-preserving self-map of a poset $X$ will be called an endomorphism of $X$, and such an endomorphism $f$ will be called rigid if the only automorphism ...
Pierre-Yves Gaillard's user avatar
5 votes
0 answers
107 views

Heuristics for the word problem for monoids

The question is about a purely practical problem: Given is a list of identities, as in http://www.findstat.org/MapsDatabase/Mp00069: ...
Martin Rubey's user avatar
  • 5,822
5 votes
1 answer
142 views

On the width of the Catalan monoid and the rank of K-groups of the Furstenberg transformation group

The semigroup algebra of the Catalan monoid is isomorphic to the incidence algebra of $P_n$, where $P_n$ is the poset consisting of subsets of { 1,...,n } where for two subsets $X \leq Y$ if and only ...
Mare's user avatar
  • 26.5k
2 votes
0 answers
89 views

Semigroups associated to binary necklaces and their semigroup algebra

I came across the following semi-group and the associated finite dimensional semi-group algebras over a field $K$ (which are Nakayama algebras) as they have very nice homological properties. My ...
Mare's user avatar
  • 26.5k
6 votes
0 answers
89 views

Maximal number of commuting functions of a finite set

Let $S$ be a finite set with $n$ elements and let $F_S$ denote the set of functions from $S$ to $S$. I wonder whether anything is known about the maximal cardinality of a commuting subset of $F_S$? A ...
Anthony Quas's user avatar
  • 23.2k
12 votes
0 answers
321 views

Combinatorial proof of invertibility of a symmetric matrix associated to the ring of matrices over a finite field

Let $F$ be a finite field of $q$ elements with characteristic $p$. Let $M_n(F)$ be the ring of $n\times n$ matrices over $F$. We define a $q^{n^2}\times q^{n^2}$ symmetric matrix $L$ over the ...
Benjamin Steinberg's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
116 views

Bijection between monoid of nilpotent decreasing self-maps and local subsemigroup

Let $\mathcal{C}_X\cong\mathcal{C}_n$ be the monoid of self-maps $\alpha$ of $X=\{1\dots,n\}$ that are order-preserving ($\forall x,y$, $x\le y$ $\Rightarrow$ $\alpha(x)\le\alpha(y)$) and decreasing ($...
1Spectre1's user avatar
  • 355
2 votes
1 answer
156 views

Additivity of the upper Banach density

The following notion of upper Banach density was defined (Definition 2.1(c)) by Hindman and Strauss in their paper 'Density in arbitrary semigroups': Definition: Let $S$ be a semigroup, let $\mathcal{...
Surajit's user avatar
  • 73
1 vote
1 answer
326 views

Closed submonoid of $(\mathbb{C}^*)^n$

The answer of this question might be known but I was not able to find any answer. Let $n\geq 1$ and $S$ be a closed submonoid of $(\mathbb{C}^*)^n$, that is, a closed and stable by product subset of $(...
phdstud's user avatar
  • 143
1 vote
1 answer
77 views

What is the minimal possible size of a subset of this semigroup satisfying the following conditions?

Suppose $A$ is some set. Let's define a pair semigroup over $A$ as $P[A] = (A\times A \cup \{0\}, \circ)$, where the $\circ$ operation is defined by the following two identities: $\forall a \in P[A]$ ...
Chain Markov's user avatar
  • 2,618
7 votes
2 answers
383 views

Counting nilpotent self-maps of $\{1,\dots,n\}$ with image of a given cardinal

Let $\mathcal{C}_n$ be the monoid of self-maps $\alpha$ of $\{1\dots,n\}$ that are order-preserving ($\forall x,y$, $x\le y$ $\Rightarrow$ $\alpha(x)\le\alpha(y)$ and decreasing ($\forall x$, $\alpha(...
1Spectre1's user avatar
  • 355
2 votes
1 answer
229 views

Has the "semidirect monoid of a semiring" been considered anywhere?

Given a semiring $S$, we get a monoid $M(S)$ as follows: The underlying set of $S$ is $S^2$ The identity element is $(0,1)$ The law of composition is given by $$(a,A)(b,B) = (Ba+b,AB),$$ where $a,A,b$...
goblin GONE's user avatar
  • 3,793
10 votes
1 answer
673 views

Given any finite relation $R$ what is the cardinality of $\langle R\rangle=\{\underbrace{R\circ R\cdots \circ R}_{n\text{ times}}:n\in\mathbb{N}\}$?

Given any finite relation $R$ if we let $\circ$ denote relation composition and define $R^n=\underbrace{R\circ R\cdots \circ R}_{n\text{ times}}$ then does there exist an explicit formula for the ...
Ethan Splaver's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
134 views

On a generating set of numerical semigroups of multiplicity three

Let $S$ be a numerical semigroup. Let $\mathbb N$ denote the monoid of non-negative integers under addition. Let $F(S)=\max (\mathbb N \setminus S)$ be the Frobenius number of $S$; let $g(S)=|\mathbb ...
user avatar
6 votes
0 answers
81 views

Representing meet-semilattices with vector spaces of specified dimensions

Take $K$ to be a field and take $L$ to be a finite meet-semilattice. I'm interested in the set of functions $n: L \rightarrow \mathbb{Z}^{\ge 0}$ such that there is some function $V$ from $L$ to ...
Alexander Smith's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
91 views

Semigroups of nondecreasing functions

Consider some partially ordered set $(E,\leq)$. Assume either that it is countable with the discrete topology, or that it has some topology compatible with the order, preferably one that makes it into ...
Vilhelm Agdur's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
154 views

Inductive and reducible functions

The question was asked by a Computer Scientist and is closely related to parallel computing. But it is clearly of algebraic nature, so I decided to post it here. Let $X$ be a set and $\bar X$ be the ...
user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
137 views

The smallest number of vertices for a graph with the same endomorphism monoid

Let $G$ be a directed graph without loop and suppose that $M$ is its endomorphism monoid. First how we can create a simple graph $\Gamma$ (using $G$), with the same endomorphism monoid? and then how ...
khers's user avatar
  • 237
6 votes
1 answer
259 views

are endomorphisms "small" compared to the full transformations?

$\DeclareMathOperator\End{End}$Let $T_n$ be the full transformation semigroup/monoid of $[n]=\{1,\dots,n\}$. Let $\End(T_n)$ be the set of [endomorphisms][1] of $T_n$. Then, $\# T_n=n^n$ and $$\# \End(...
T. Amdeberhan's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
402 views

Maximal commuting subsets of $\text{End}(X)$

Let $X$ be a set and let $\text{End}(X)$ be the set of all functions $f:X\to X$. We say that $f, g\in \text{End}(X)$ commute if $g\circ f = f\circ g$, and $S\subseteq \text{End}(X)$ is a commuting ...
Dominic van der Zypen's user avatar
17 votes
0 answers
536 views

Question about combinatorics on words

Let $\{a_1,a_2,...,a_n\}$ be an alphabet and let $\{u_1,...,u_n\}$ be words in this alphabet, and $a_i\mapsto u_i$ be a substitution $\phi$. Question: Is there an algorithm to check if for some $m,k$...
user avatar
9 votes
0 answers
373 views

Embedding $\beta\mathbb{N}$ into a product of Cantor sets

Let us consider $\beta\mathbb{N}$, the Stone-Čech compactification of the natural numbers (where we do not take $0$ to be a natural number, so the only idempotent elements are nonprincipal ...
Simon_Peterson's user avatar
10 votes
2 answers
444 views

Iterated sumset inequalities in cancellative semigroups

This question is motivated by the following well-known theorems: Thm (Plünnecke): If $A$ is a finite nonempty subset of an abelian group, then for every $n$ we have $|A^n| \le \frac{|AA|^n}{|A|^n}|A|$...
zeb's user avatar
  • 8,688
6 votes
2 answers
237 views

Realizing a monoid as $\mathrm{End}(G)$ for some graph $G$

This question relates to Realizing groups as automorphism groups of graphs. Given a monoid $M$, is there a graph $G$ such that the endomorphism monoid $\textrm{End}(G)$ is isomorphic to $M$?
Dominic van der Zypen's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
319 views

Über theorem on unavoidable patterns?

Let $A$ be an alphabet of $k$ symbols, and $p$ a pattern. An example of a pattern is $p=XX$, where $X$ is any finite string of symbols from $A^+$. Avoiding $p$ is avoiding any subword repeated twice ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
196 views

Is the monoid of taking iterated images and inverse images freely generated by the image and inverse image operation?

Let $\mathcal{F}$ denote the class of all functions. Let $U,L:\mathcal{F}\rightarrow\mathcal{F}$ denote the mappings where if $f:X\rightarrow Y$, then $U(f):P(X)\rightarrow P(Y),L(f):P(Y)\rightarrow P(...
Joseph Van Name's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
174 views

Number of k-generated semigroups

Given some $k>1$, I am interested in the number of $k$-generated semigroups of order $n$ (either up to isomorphism or all associative binary operations on an n-element set). At first I thought $3$-...
alexbailey's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
485 views

Are semigroups with finite-to-one right multiplication "moving"?

A semigroup $S$ is moving if $S$ is infinite, and for all finite $F\subseteq S$ and infinite $A\subseteq S$, there are $a_{1},\dots,a_{k}\in A$ such that, for all but finitely many $s\in S$, $$ \{a_{...
Boaz Tsaban's user avatar
  • 3,104
6 votes
2 answers
781 views

What is the combinatorial data classifying non-normal affine toric varieties?

Recall that a toric variety is a variety $V$ containing an open dense algebraic torus. Here an algebraic torus means a finite product of copies of the multiplicative group of the ground field (which I ...
Benjamin Steinberg's user avatar
13 votes
1 answer
2k views

Coin problem with permutations

Let $a,b,c$ be positive integers with gcd$(a,b,c)=1$, and let $\mathbb{N}$ denote the set of nonnegative integers. It is well known that $\mathbb{N} \setminus (a \mathbb{N}+b \mathbb{N} + c \mathbb{N}...
Peter Dukes's user avatar
  • 1,081
5 votes
2 answers
387 views

Concatenation of strings [closed]

We have two strings (i. e., finite tuples) $A$ and $B$. We have to find if for some positive integers $n$ and $m$, the string $A$ concatenated $n$ times equals the string $B$ concatenated $m$ times or ...
user103260's user avatar
41 votes
4 answers
2k views

What is the probability two random maps on n symbols commute?

It is well known that two randomly chosen permutations of $n$ symbols commute with probability $p_n/n!$ where $p_n$ is the number of partitions of $n$. This is a special case of the fact that in a ...
Benjamin Steinberg's user avatar