Can generators of a Coxeter group be redundant?












1












$begingroup$


I’m just beginning to learn about Coxeter groups and at one point the textbook’s author seems to take it for grant that each generator cannot be “reduced” into a product of other generators. Specifically, it seems the following claim is so obvious that it need not be stated:



If ${s_1, s_2,..., s_n}$ is the set of generators of a coxeter group $W$, then one cannot have $s_i=s_1s_2...s_{j-1}s_js_{j-1}...s_1$ for some $j$ without $i, j$ being $1$.



So I suspected something like $s_1=s_2s_4s_8$ cannot happen too. I know the question looks really stupid but it seems I’m missing something fundamental.










share|cite|improve this question









$endgroup$












  • $begingroup$
    This is not obvious -- I suspect it only becomes clear somewhere in Chapter 4 of Björner/Brenti, not earlier. The easiest way to see the claim is if you know that the length function of a parabolic subgroup $W_I$ of $W$ is the restriction of the length function of $W$ (see, e.g., §9.6 of arXiv:math/0208154v2); thus, if $s_i$ was a product of other $s_j$'s, then $s_i$ would have to be a single other $s_j$, which would contradict the (nontrivial) fact that the elements of $S$ are distinct in $W$.
    $endgroup$
    – darij grinberg
    Jan 2 at 11:45


















1












$begingroup$


I’m just beginning to learn about Coxeter groups and at one point the textbook’s author seems to take it for grant that each generator cannot be “reduced” into a product of other generators. Specifically, it seems the following claim is so obvious that it need not be stated:



If ${s_1, s_2,..., s_n}$ is the set of generators of a coxeter group $W$, then one cannot have $s_i=s_1s_2...s_{j-1}s_js_{j-1}...s_1$ for some $j$ without $i, j$ being $1$.



So I suspected something like $s_1=s_2s_4s_8$ cannot happen too. I know the question looks really stupid but it seems I’m missing something fundamental.










share|cite|improve this question









$endgroup$












  • $begingroup$
    This is not obvious -- I suspect it only becomes clear somewhere in Chapter 4 of Björner/Brenti, not earlier. The easiest way to see the claim is if you know that the length function of a parabolic subgroup $W_I$ of $W$ is the restriction of the length function of $W$ (see, e.g., §9.6 of arXiv:math/0208154v2); thus, if $s_i$ was a product of other $s_j$'s, then $s_i$ would have to be a single other $s_j$, which would contradict the (nontrivial) fact that the elements of $S$ are distinct in $W$.
    $endgroup$
    – darij grinberg
    Jan 2 at 11:45
















1












1








1





$begingroup$


I’m just beginning to learn about Coxeter groups and at one point the textbook’s author seems to take it for grant that each generator cannot be “reduced” into a product of other generators. Specifically, it seems the following claim is so obvious that it need not be stated:



If ${s_1, s_2,..., s_n}$ is the set of generators of a coxeter group $W$, then one cannot have $s_i=s_1s_2...s_{j-1}s_js_{j-1}...s_1$ for some $j$ without $i, j$ being $1$.



So I suspected something like $s_1=s_2s_4s_8$ cannot happen too. I know the question looks really stupid but it seems I’m missing something fundamental.










share|cite|improve this question









$endgroup$




I’m just beginning to learn about Coxeter groups and at one point the textbook’s author seems to take it for grant that each generator cannot be “reduced” into a product of other generators. Specifically, it seems the following claim is so obvious that it need not be stated:



If ${s_1, s_2,..., s_n}$ is the set of generators of a coxeter group $W$, then one cannot have $s_i=s_1s_2...s_{j-1}s_js_{j-1}...s_1$ for some $j$ without $i, j$ being $1$.



So I suspected something like $s_1=s_2s_4s_8$ cannot happen too. I know the question looks really stupid but it seems I’m missing something fundamental.







abstract-algebra coxeter-groups






share|cite|improve this question













share|cite|improve this question











share|cite|improve this question




share|cite|improve this question










asked Jan 2 at 11:18









AhmbakAhmbak

390110




390110












  • $begingroup$
    This is not obvious -- I suspect it only becomes clear somewhere in Chapter 4 of Björner/Brenti, not earlier. The easiest way to see the claim is if you know that the length function of a parabolic subgroup $W_I$ of $W$ is the restriction of the length function of $W$ (see, e.g., §9.6 of arXiv:math/0208154v2); thus, if $s_i$ was a product of other $s_j$'s, then $s_i$ would have to be a single other $s_j$, which would contradict the (nontrivial) fact that the elements of $S$ are distinct in $W$.
    $endgroup$
    – darij grinberg
    Jan 2 at 11:45




















  • $begingroup$
    This is not obvious -- I suspect it only becomes clear somewhere in Chapter 4 of Björner/Brenti, not earlier. The easiest way to see the claim is if you know that the length function of a parabolic subgroup $W_I$ of $W$ is the restriction of the length function of $W$ (see, e.g., §9.6 of arXiv:math/0208154v2); thus, if $s_i$ was a product of other $s_j$'s, then $s_i$ would have to be a single other $s_j$, which would contradict the (nontrivial) fact that the elements of $S$ are distinct in $W$.
    $endgroup$
    – darij grinberg
    Jan 2 at 11:45


















$begingroup$
This is not obvious -- I suspect it only becomes clear somewhere in Chapter 4 of Björner/Brenti, not earlier. The easiest way to see the claim is if you know that the length function of a parabolic subgroup $W_I$ of $W$ is the restriction of the length function of $W$ (see, e.g., §9.6 of arXiv:math/0208154v2); thus, if $s_i$ was a product of other $s_j$'s, then $s_i$ would have to be a single other $s_j$, which would contradict the (nontrivial) fact that the elements of $S$ are distinct in $W$.
$endgroup$
– darij grinberg
Jan 2 at 11:45






$begingroup$
This is not obvious -- I suspect it only becomes clear somewhere in Chapter 4 of Björner/Brenti, not earlier. The easiest way to see the claim is if you know that the length function of a parabolic subgroup $W_I$ of $W$ is the restriction of the length function of $W$ (see, e.g., §9.6 of arXiv:math/0208154v2); thus, if $s_i$ was a product of other $s_j$'s, then $s_i$ would have to be a single other $s_j$, which would contradict the (nontrivial) fact that the elements of $S$ are distinct in $W$.
$endgroup$
– darij grinberg
Jan 2 at 11:45












0






active

oldest

votes












Your Answer








StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "69"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});

function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: true,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: 10,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});


}
});














draft saved

draft discarded


















StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fmath.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f3059359%2fcan-generators-of-a-coxeter-group-be-redundant%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);

Post as a guest















Required, but never shown

























0






active

oldest

votes








0






active

oldest

votes









active

oldest

votes






active

oldest

votes
















draft saved

draft discarded




















































Thanks for contributing an answer to Mathematics Stack Exchange!


  • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

But avoid



  • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

  • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


Use MathJax to format equations. MathJax reference.


To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




draft saved


draft discarded














StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fmath.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f3059359%2fcan-generators-of-a-coxeter-group-be-redundant%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);

Post as a guest















Required, but never shown





















































Required, but never shown














Required, but never shown












Required, but never shown







Required, but never shown

































Required, but never shown














Required, but never shown












Required, but never shown







Required, but never shown







Popular posts from this blog

How to change which sound is reproduced for terminal bell?

Can I use Tabulator js library in my java Spring + Thymeleaf project?

Title Spacing in Bjornstrup Chapter, Removing Chapter Number From Contents