Reaping Numbers of Boolean Algebras

Publication date 21 November 1996

Abstract: A subset

A

of a Boolean algebra

B

is said to be

(n, m)

-reaped if there is a partition of unity

P s u b s e t B

of size

n

such that the cardinality of

b i n P : b w e d g e a e q e m p t y s e t

is greater than or equal to

m

for all

a i n A

. The reaping number

r_{n, m} (B)

of a Boolean algebra

B

is the minimum cardinality of a set

A s u b s e t B s e t m i n u s 0

such which cannot be

(n, m)

-reaped. It is shown that, for each

n i n o m e g a

, there is a Boolean algebra

B

such that

r_{n + 1, 2} (B) e q r_{n, 2} (B)

. Also,

r_{n, m} (B) : n, m s u b s e t e q o m e g a

consists of at most two consecutive integers. The existence of a Boolean algebra

B

such that

r_{n, m} (B) e q r_{n^{'}, m^{'}} (B)

is equivalent to a statement in finite combinatorics which is also discussed.

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