Constructing mathematical objects in AbstractAlgebra.jl
Constructing objects in Julia
In Julia, one constructs objects of a given type by calling a type constructor. This is simply a function with the same name as the type itself. For example, to construct a BigInt object from an Int in Julia, we simply call the BigInt constructor:
n = BigInt(123)Note that a number literal too big to fit in an Int or Int128 automatically creates a BigInt:
julia> typeof(12345678765456787654567890987654567898765678909876567890)
BigIntHow we construct objects in AbstractAlgebra.jl
As we explain in Elements and parents, Julia types don't contain enough information to properly model groups, rings, fields, etc. Instead of using types to construct objects, we use special objects that we refer to as parent objects. They behave a lot like Julia types.
Consider the following simple example, to create a multiprecision integer:
n = ZZ(12345678765456787654567890987654567898765678909876567890)Here ZZ is not a Julia type, but a callable object. However, for most purposes one can think of such a parent object as though it were a type.
Constructing parent objects
For more complicated groups, rings, fields, etc., one first needs to construct the parent object before one can use it to construct element objects.
AbstractAlgebra.jl provides a set of functions for constructing such parent objects. For example, to create a parent object for univariate polynomials over the integers, we use the polynomial_ring parent object constructor.
R, x = polynomial_ring(ZZ, "x")
f = x^3 + 3x + 1
-g = R(12)In this example, R is the parent object and we use it to convert the Int value $12$ to an element of the polynomial ring $\mathbb{Z}[x]$.
List of parent object constructors
For convenience, we provide a list of all the parent object constructors in AbstractAlgebra.jl and explain what mathematical domains they represent.
| Mathematics | AbstractAlgebra.jl constructor |
|---|---|
| $R = \mathbb{Z}$ | R = ZZ |
| $R = \mathbb{Q}$ | R = QQ |
| $R = \mathbb{F}_{p}$ | R = GF(p) |
| $R = \mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z}$ | R = residue_ring(ZZ, n) |
| $S = R[x]$ | S, x = polynomial_ring(R, "x") |
| $S = R[x, y]$ | S, (x, y) = polynomial_ring(R, ["x", "y"]) |
| $S = R[[x]]$ (to precision $n$) | S, x = power_series_ring(R, n, "x") |
| $S = R((x))$ (to precision $n$) | S, x = laurent_series_ring(R, n, "x") |
| $S = K((x))$ (to precision $n$) | S, x = laurent_series_field(K, n, "x") |
| $S = \mathrm{Frac}_R$ | S = fraction_field(R) |
| $S = R/(f)$ | S = residue_ring(R, f) |
| $S = R/(f)$ (with $(f)$ maximal) | S = residue_field(R, f) |
| $S = \mathrm{Mat}_{m\times n}(R)$ | S = matrix_space(R, m, n) |
| $S = \mathbb{Q}[x]/(f)$ | S, a = number_field(f, "a") |