Formal Definition
Given a group G and a field F, the elements of its representation ring RF(G) are the formal differences of isomorphism classes of finite dimensional linear F-representations of G. For the ring structure, addition is given by the direct sum of representations, and multiplication by their tensor product over F. When F is omitted from the notation, as in R(G), then F is implicitly taken to be the field of complex numbers.
Read more about this topic: Representation Ring
Famous quotes containing the words formal and/or definition:
“It is in the nature of allegory, as opposed to symbolism, to beg the question of absolute reality. The allegorist avails himself of a formal correspondence between “ideas” and “things,” both of which he assumes as given; he need not inquire whether either sphere is “real” or whether, in the final analysis, reality consists in their interaction.”
—Charles, Jr. Feidelson, U.S. educator, critic. Symbolism and American Literature, ch. 1, University of Chicago Press (1953)
“Beauty, like all other qualities presented to human experience, is relative; and the definition of it becomes unmeaning and useless in proportion to its abstractness. To define beauty not in the most abstract, but in the most concrete terms possible, not to find a universal formula for it, but the formula which expresses most adequately this or that special manifestation of it, is the aim of the true student of aesthetics.”
—Walter Pater (1839–1894)