In combinatorial mathematics, an independence system is a pair , where is a finite set and is a collection of subsets of (called the independent sets or feasible sets) with the following properties:

  1. The empty set is independent, i.e., . (Alternatively, at least one subset of is independent, i.e., .)
  2. Every subset of an independent set is independent, i.e., for each , we have . This is sometimes called the hereditary property, or downward-closedness.

Another term for an independence system is an abstract simplicial complex.

Relation to other concepts

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  • A pair  , where   is a finite set and   is a collection of subsets of  , is also called a hypergraph. When using this terminology, the elements in the set   are called vertices and elements in the family   are called hyperedges. So an independence system can be defined shortly as a downward-closed hypergraph.
  • An independence system with an additional property called the augmentation property or the independent set exchange property yields a matroid. The following expression summarizes the relations between the terms:

    HYPERGRAPHS INDEPENDENCE-SYSTEMS = ABSTRACT-SIMPLICIAL-COMPLEXES MATROIDS.

References

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  • Bondy, Adrian; Murty, U.S.R. (2008), Graph Theory, Graduate Texts in Mathematics, vol. 244, Springer, p. 195, ISBN 9781846289699.