Gr bner basis

In computer algebra and computational algebraic geometry, a Gröbner basis is a particular kind of generating subset of an ideal I in a polynomial ring, characterised by the property that, for some monomial order, the ideal given by the leading terms in of polynomials in I is itself generated by the leading terms of the basis. It is a significant fact of commutative algebra that such subsets exist, and can be effectively obtained starting with any generating subset.

The basis depends on the monomial ordering chosen, and different orderings can give rise to radically different Gröbner bases. Two of the most commonly used orderings are lexicographic ordering, and degree lexicographic, a variant on lexicographic ordering where monomials are sorted first by degree, then by lexographic ordering when two monomials are of the same degree.

In most cases (polynomials in finitely many variables with complex coefficients, for example), Gröbner bases exist for any monomial ordering. One method for generating them is known as Buchberger's algorithm.

A Gröbner basis is termed reduced if the leading coefficient of each element of the basis is 1 and no monomial in any element of the basis is in the ideal generated by the leading coefficients of the other elements of the basis. Both standard and reduced Gröbner bases are often computable in practice.

Properties and applications of Gröbner bases

• Reduced Gröbner bases can be shown to be unique for any given ideal and monomial ordering, and are also often computable in practice. Thus one can determine if two ideals are equal by looking at their reduced Gröbner bases.

• The reduction of a polynomial f by the multivariate division algorithm for an ideal using a Gröbner basis will yield 0 if and only if f is in the ideal. (This is not true in general for polynomials in more than one variable). This gives a test for determining whether or not a polynomial is in an ideal with a given set of generators.

• If a Gröbner basis for an ideal I in k[x₁, x₂, ..., x_n] is computed relative to the lexicographic ordering with x₁ > x₂ > ... > x_n, the intersection of I with k[x_k, x_k+1, ..., x_n] is given by the intersection of the Gröbner basis with k[x_k, x_k'+1, ..., x_n]. This is known as the elimination property

• In particular, this gives us a method for solving simultaneous polynomial equations. If there are only finitely many solutions to the system of equations {f₁[x₁, ..., x_n] = a₁, ..., f_m[x₁, ..., x_n] = a_n}, we should be able to manipulate these equations to get something of the form g(x_n) = b. The elimination property says that if we compute a Gröbner basis for the ideal generated by {f₁ − a₁, ..., f_m − a_m} relative to the right lexicographic ordering, then we can find the polynomial g as one of the elements of our basis. Furthermore, (taking k = n − 1) there will be another polynomial in the basis involving only x_n−1 and x_n, so we can take our possible solutions for x_n and find corresponding values for x_n−1. This lifting continues all the way up until we've found the values of all the variables.

• The same elimination property can almost be used to convert parametric equations of polynomials into nonparametric equations. Given the equations {x₁ = f₁(t₁, ..., t_m), ..., x_n = f_n(t₁, ..., t_m)}, we compute a Gröbner basis for the ideal generated by {x₁ − f₁, ..., x_n − f_n} relative to any ordering which places polynomials involving t greater than those which don't (for example, lexicographic ordering with t₁ > t₂ > ... > t_m > x₁ > ... > x_n). Taking only the elements of the basis which do not involve the t variables, we get a set of equations describing not the original surface, but the smallest affine variety containing it.

• If I is generated by some {f₁, ..., f_m} and J is generated by some {g₁, ..., g_k}, then the intersection of I and J can be found by taking a Gröbner basis for the ideal generated by {tf₁, ..., tf_m, (1 − t)g₁, ..., (1 − t)g_k} relative to any lexicographic ordering which places t first, then taking only those terms not involving t. In particular, this allows us to calculate the least common multiple (and hence the greatest common divisor) of two polynomials f and g, since it is the generator of the intersection of the ideals generated by f and by g. This is true even if we do not know how to factor the polynomials!