One might say that physicists study the symmetry of nature, while mathematicians study the nature of symmetry.

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@GWOMaths Observing symmetry in nature, such as noting the similarity between the symmetries of a snowflake and a hexagon, is readily comprehensible. What does it mean then to study "the nature of symmetry"?

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@GWOMaths Mathematicians define a "group", G, as a set of elements {a,b,c, ...} with a binary operation ⊡ and a distinguished element e (the identity of G) satisfying these specific properties:

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@GWOMaths For all a, b, c in G
1) Closure: a⊡b is in G.
2) Associativity: (a⊡b)⊡c = a⊡(b⊡c)
3) Identity: e⊡a = a⊡e = a.
4) Inverse: There exists an element a* such that a*⊡a = a⊡a* = e.

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@GWOMaths Just as functions on the integers, rationals, or reals are defined as mappings, mathematicians define a *group morphism* μ as a mapping from one group to another that preserves the group structure:

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@GWOMaths For groups G = [{a,b,c, ...}, ⊡, e] and H = [{α,β,γ, ...}, ⊠, ε]
then μ: G ⟼ H is a "group morphism" if for all elements of G:
μ(a⊡b) = μ(a)⊠μ(b). Note that for all a:
μ(a)⊠ε = μ(a) = μ(a⊡e) = μ(a)⊠μ(e)
and hence μ(e)=ε; Similarly it can be shown that
μ(a*) = μ(a)*.
@GWOMaths Thus the definition of such a *group morphism* preserves the group structure. When such a *morphism* is both *onto* (ie every element of H is mapped to by one or more elements of G) and *one-to-one* (only one element of G maps to each element in H) it is termed an *isomorphism*.
@GWOMaths For mathematical purposes, when there exists an *isomorphism* between two groups G = [{a,b,c, ...}, ⊡, e] and H = [{α,β,γ, ...}, ⊠, ε] then G and H are termed *isomorphic*, or *the same up to isomorphism*.
@GWOMaths Now all the finite groups can be classified in terms of various internal structures, first collecting those which are *the same up to isomorphism* and then collecting families with similar internal structure.
@GWOMaths When all the families of groups - Cyclic, Alternating, and assorted Lie Group Types - have been defined, there are remaining 26 groups that don't fit anywhere: the *sporadic groups*.
@GWOMaths Of these 26 *sporadic groups*, two stand out from the others in terms of their size:

- the *Baby Monster*, *B*, of size
2⁴¹ ⋅ 3¹³ ⋅ 5⁶ ⋅ 7² ⋅ 11 ⋅ 13 ⋅ 17 ⋅ 19 ⋅ 23 ⋅ 31 ⋅ 47; and
@GWOMaths - the *(Fischer–Griess) Monster), *M*, of size
2⁴⁶ ⋅ 3²⁰ ⋅ 5⁹ ⋅ 7⁶ ⋅ 11² ⋅ 13³ ⋅ 17 ⋅ 19 ⋅ 23 ⋅ 29 ⋅ 31 ⋅ 41 ⋅ 47 ⋅ 59 ⋅ 71.

Counting up the number of distinct primes in that last number gives us 15.
@GWOMaths Therefore today's answer is that:

The number of distinct prime factors
in the size, n, of the *Monster Group* M
is

15.
@GWOMaths @threadreaderapp unroll

More from Maths

In light of my tweet thread about the category of finite sets and commutative monoids (https://t.co/jnY0wZZbxq), I thought I might try to say what the analogue is for braided monoidal things (although much of this is still somewhat hypothetical).


It's also just kind of a cool combinatorial structure! I've been talking to @CreeepyJoe about this lately, as well as @grassmannian.

The first thing you have to know is that, in a braided monoidal category you can still have commutative monoids. Since a braided monoidal category C has a "twist" map for every object β(x):x⊗x→x⊗x, if x is a monoid you can ask for the following diagram to commute:


Remember that being symmetric monoidal just means that if you take the twist map above and do it twice, you get the identity map, but braided monoidal doesn't mean that. But it's okay! You can still define commutative monoids here.

But so anyway, we can talk about commutative monoids in braided monoidal categories.

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महर्षि कश्यप की तेरह पत्नियां थीं।लेकिन विनता व कद्रु नामक अपनी दो पत्नियों से उन्हे विशेष लगाव था।एक दिन महर्षि आनन्दभाव में बैठे थे कि तभी वे दोनों उनके समीप आकर उनके पैर दबाने लगी।


प्रसन्न होकर महर्षि कश्यप बोले,"मुझे तुम दोनों से विशेष लगाव है, इसलिए यदि तुम्हारी कोई विशेष इच्छा हो तो मुझे बताओ। मैं उसे अवश्य पूरा करूंगा ।"

कद्रू बोली,"स्वामी! मेरी इच्छा है कि मैं हज़ार पुत्रों की मां बनूंगी।"
विनता बोली,"स्वामी! मुझे केवल एक पुत्र की मां बनना है जो इतना बलवान हो की कद्रू के हज़ार पुत्रों पर भारी पड़े।"
महर्षि बोले,"शीघ्र ही मैं यज्ञ करूंगा और यज्ञ के उपरांत तुम दोनो की इच्छाएं अवश्य पूर्ण होंगी"।


महर्षि ने यज्ञ किया,विनता व कद्रू को आशीर्वाद देकर तपस्या करने चले गए। कुछ काल पश्चात कद्रू ने हज़ार अंडों से काले सर्पों को जन्म दिया व विनता ने एक अंडे से तेजस्वी बालक को जन्म दिया जिसका नाम गरूड़ रखा।जैसे जैसे समय बीता गरुड़ बलवान होता गया और कद्रू के पुत्रों पर भारी पड़ने लगा


परिणामस्वरूप दिन प्रतिदिन कद्रू व विनता के सम्बंधों में कटुता बढ़ती गयी।एकदिन जब दोनो भ्रमण कर रहीं थी तब कद्रू ने दूर खड़े सफेद घोड़े को देख कर कहा,"बता सकती हो विनता!दूर खड़ा वो घोड़ा किस रंग का है?"
विनता बोली,"सफेद रंग का"।
तो कद्रू बोली,"शर्त लगाती हो? इसकी पूँछ तो काली है"।