Biordered sets come from semigroups (Q1081704)

The biordered set of a semigroup is the set of idempotents of the semigroup together with the partial operation obtained by restriction of the multiplication to those pairs of idempotents whose product is equal to one of them (i.e. one is a one-sided zero of the other). For any abstract biordered set \(E\) a semigroup \(S\) is constructed having \(E\) as its biordered set. \(S\) is obtained by factoring the free semigroup on \(E\) by all the relations holding in \(E\), so \(S\) is the freest semigroup having \(E\) as its biordered set.