Rank of an abelian group
In mathematics, the rank, Prüfer rank, or torsion-free rank of an abelian group A is the cardinality of a maximal linearly independent subset. The rank of A determines the size of the largest free abelian group contained in A. If A is torsion-free then it embeds into a vector space over the rational numbers of dimension rank A. For finitely generated abelian groups, rank is a strong invariant and every such group is determined up to isomorphism by its rank and torsion subgroup. Torsion-free abelian groups of rank 1 have been completely classified. However, the theory of abelian groups of higher rank is more involved.
The term rank has a different meaning in the context of elementary abelian groups.
A subset {aα} of an abelian group is linearly independent (over Z) if the only linear combination of these elements that is equal to zero is trivial: if
where all but finitely many coefficients nα are zero (so that the sum is, in effect, finite), then all coefficients are 0. Any two maximal linearly independent sets in A have the same cardinality, which is called the rank of A.
Rank of an abelian group is analogous to the dimension of a vector space. The main difference with the case of vector space is a presence of torsion. An element of an abelian group A is classified as torsion if its order is finite. The set of all torsion elements is a subgroup, called the torsion subgroup and denoted T(A). A group is called torsion-free if it has no non-trivial torsion elements. The factor-group A/T(A) is the unique maximal torsion-free quotient of A and its rank coincides with the rank of A.
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