Definition:Complement (Lattice Theory)

Definition
Let $\struct {S, \vee, \wedge, \preceq}$ be a bounded lattice.

Denote by $\bot$ and $\top$ the bottom and top of $S$, respectively.

Let $a \in S$.

Then $b \in S$ is called a complement of $a$ :


 * $b \vee a = \top$
 * $b \wedge a = \bot$

If $a$ has a unique complement, it is denoted by $\neg a$.

Also denoted as
Considerably many sources use $a'$ in place of $\neg a$ to denote complement, while $\sim \! a$ is also seen.

Also see

 * Definition:Complemented Lattice, a bounded lattice in which every element has a complement
 * Complement in Distributive Lattice is Unique