Explicit expressions of Smith's determinant on a poset (Q5936147)

A meet-semilattice and a join-semilattice of a poset \(P\) are defined. Some examples are given showing the greatest common divisor of \(x\) and \(y\), the least common multiple of \(x\) and \(y\) and the greatest common unitary divisor of \(x\) and \(y\), where \(P\) is the set of natural numbers \(x, y\) with the partial order. Then some properties are derived of so called meet- and join-matrices whose entries are meet- and join-functions \(f\) on a subset of the semilattice \(P\). These matrices are called Smith's matrices. The determinants of these matrices can be expressed by the Möbius inversion formula through the Möbius function. In general, it is not easy to find simple expressions for the Möbius function. Here, a direct explicit expression of Smith's determinant is given without using the Möbius function. Finally, some examples are included demonstrating properties of matrices with positive (nonnegative) meet-functions.