Direct Sum of Modules

Direct Sum Of Modules

In abstract algebra, the direct sum is a construction which combines several modules into a new, larger module. The direct sum of modules is the smallest module which contains the given modules as submodules with no "unnecessary" constraints, making it an example of a coproduct. Contrast with the direct product, which is the dual notion.

The most familiar examples of this construction occur when considering vector spaces (modules over a field) and abelian groups (modules over the ring Z of integers). The construction may also be extended to cover Banach spaces and Hilbert spaces.

Read more about Direct Sum Of Modules:  Construction For Vector Spaces and Abelian Groups, Construction For An Arbitrary Family of Modules, Properties, Internal Direct Sum, Universal Property, Grothendieck Group, Direct Sum of Modules With Additional Structure

Famous quotes containing the words direct and/or sum:

    A temple, you know, was anciently “an open place without a roof,” whose walls served merely to shut out the world and direct the mind toward heaven; but a modern meeting-house shuts out the heavens, while it crowds the world into still closer quarters.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    Society does not consist of individuals but expresses the sum of interrelations, the relations within which these individuals stand.
    Karl Marx (1818–1883)