In geometry, a simplex is a generalization of the notion of a triangle or tetrahedron to arbitrary dimensions. The simplex is so-named because it represents the simplest possible polytope made with line segments in any given dimension.
In mathematics, a simplicial complex is a set composed of points, line segments, triangles, and their n-dimensional counterparts. Simplicial complexes should not be confused with the more abstract notion of a simplicial set appearing in modern simplicial homotopy theory. The purely combinatorial counterpart to a simplicial complex is an abstract simplicial complex.
In mathematics, a building is a combinatorial and geometric structure which simultaneously generalizes certain aspects of flag manifolds, finite projective planes, and Riemannian symmetric spaces. Buildings were initially introduced by Jacques Tits as a means to understand the structure of exceptional groups of Lie type. The more specialized theory of Bruhat–Tits buildings plays a role in the study of p-adic Lie groups analogous to that of the theory of symmetric spaces in the theory of Lie groups.
In geometry, the barycentric subdivision is a standard way of dividing an arbitrary convex polygon into triangles, a convex polyhedron into tetrahedra, or, in general, a convex polytope into simplices with the same dimension, by connecting the barycenters of their faces in a specific way.
In combinatorics, an abstract simplicial complex (ASC), often called an abstract complex or just a complex, is a family of sets that is closed under taking subsets, i.e., every subset of a set in the family is also in the family. It is a purely combinatorial description of the geometric notion of a simplicial complex. For example, in a 2-dimensional simplicial complex, the sets in the family are the triangles, their edges, and their vertices.
In mathematics, a simplicial set is an object composed of simplices in a specific way. Simplicial sets are higher-dimensional generalizations of directed graphs, partially ordered sets and categories. Formally, a simplicial set may be defined as a contravariant functor from the simplex category to the category of sets. Simplicial sets were introduced in 1950 by Samuel Eilenberg and Joseph A. Zilber.
In algebraic topology, simplicial homology is the sequence of homology groups of a simplicial complex. It formalizes the idea of the number of holes of a given dimension in the complex. This generalizes the number of connected components.
In geometry, a facet is a feature of a polyhedron, polytope, or related geometric structure, generally of dimension one less than the structure itself. More specifically:
In geometry, a simplicial polytope is a polytope whose facets are all simplices. For example, a simplicial polyhedron in three dimensions contains only triangular faces and corresponds via Steinitz's theorem to a maximal planar graph.
In mathematics, Kan complexes and Kan fibrations are part of the theory of simplicial sets. Kan fibrations are the fibrations of the standard model category structure on simplicial sets and are therefore of fundamental importance. Kan complexes are the fibrant objects in this model category. The name is in honor of Daniel Kan.
In algebraic combinatorics, the h-vector of a simplicial polytope is a fundamental invariant of the polytope which encodes the number of faces of different dimensions and allows one to express the Dehn–Sommerville equations in a particularly simple form. A characterization of the set of h-vectors of simplicial polytopes was conjectured by Peter McMullen and proved by Lou Billera and Carl W. Lee and Richard Stanley (g-theorem). The definition of h-vector applies to arbitrary abstract simplicial complexes. The g-conjecture stated that for simplicial spheres, all possible h-vectors occur already among the h-vectors of the boundaries of convex simplicial polytopes. It was proven in December 2018 by Karim Adiprasito.
In mathematics, a Δ-setS, often called a semi-simplicial set, is a combinatorial object that is useful in the construction and triangulation of topological spaces, and also in the computation of related algebraic invariants of such spaces. A Δ-set is somewhat more general than a simplicial complex, yet not quite as general as a simplicial set.
In geometry, a Schläfli orthoscheme is a type of simplex. The orthoscheme is the generalization of the right triangle to simplex figures of any number of dimensions. Orthoschemes are defined by a sequence of edges that are mutually orthogonal. They were introduced by Ludwig Schläfli, who called them orthoschemes and studied their volume in the Euclidean, Lobachevsky and the spherical geometry. H. S. M. Coxeter later named them after Schläfli. As right triangles provide the basis for trigonometry, orthoschemes form the basis of a trigonometry of n dimensions, as developed by Schoute who called it polygonometry. J.-P. Sydler and Børge Jessen studied orthoschemes extensively in connection with Hilbert's third problem.
Clique complexes, flag complexes, Whitney complexes and conformal hypergraphs are closely related mathematical objects in graph theory and geometric topology that each describe the cliques of an undirected graph.
In mathematics, a Stanley–Reisner ring, or face ring, is a quotient of a polynomial algebra over a field by a square-free monomial ideal. Such ideals are described more geometrically in terms of finite simplicial complexes. The Stanley–Reisner ring construction is a basic tool within algebraic combinatorics and combinatorial commutative algebra. Its properties were investigated by Richard Stanley, Melvin Hochster, and Gerald Reisner in the early 1970s.
In mathematics, a cyclic polytope, denoted C(n,d), is a convex polytope formed as a convex hull of n distinct points on a rational normal curve in Rd, where n is greater than d. These polytopes were studied by Constantin Carathéodory, David Gale, Theodore Motzkin, Victor Klee, and others. They play an important role in polyhedral combinatorics: according to the upper bound theorem, proved by Peter McMullen and Richard Stanley, the boundary Δ(n,d) of the cyclic polytope C(n,d) maximizes the number fi of i-dimensional faces among all simplicial spheres of dimension d − 1 with n vertices.
In topology, a branch of mathematics, Pachner moves, named after Udo Pachner, are ways of replacing a triangulation of a piecewise linear manifold by a different triangulation of a homeomorphic manifold. Pachner moves are also called bistellar flips. Any two triangulations of a piecewise linear manifold are related by a finite sequence of Pachner moves.
In geometry, the cyclohedron is a -dimensional polytope where can be any non-negative integer. It was first introduced as a combinatorial object by Raoul Bott and Clifford Taubes and, for this reason, it is also sometimes called the Bott–Taubes polytope. It was later constructed as a polytope by Martin Markl and by Rodica Simion. Rodica Simion describes this polytope as an associahedron of type B.
In mathematics, the upper bound theorem states that cyclic polytopes have the largest possible number of faces among all convex polytopes with a given dimension and number of vertices. It is one of the central results of polyhedral combinatorics.
Discrete calculus or the calculus of discrete functions, is the mathematical study of incremental change, in the same way that geometry is the study of shape and algebra is the study of generalizations of arithmetic operations. The word calculus is a Latin word, meaning originally "small pebble"; as such pebbles were used for calculation, the meaning of the word has evolved and today usually means a method of computation. Meanwhile, calculus, originally called infinitesimal calculus or "the calculus of infinitesimals", is the study of continuous change.
