 in mathematics, and more specifically in abstract algebra, the term algebraic structure generally refers to a set (called carrier set or underlying set) with one or more finitary operations defined on it.p.m. cohn. (1981) universal algebra, springer, p. 41. examples of algebraic structures include groups, rings, fields, and lattices. more complex structures can be defined by introducing multiple operations, different underlying sets, or by altering the defining axioms. examples of more complex algebraic structures include vector spaces, modules, and algebras. the properties of specific algebraic structures are studied in abstract algebra. the general theory of algebraic structures has been formalized in universal algebra. category theory is used to study the relationships between two or more classes of algebraic structures, often of different kinds. for example, galois theory studies the connection between certain fields and groups, algebraic structures of two different kinds. in a slight abuse of notation, the word "structure" can also refer only to the operations on a structure, and not the underlying set itself. for example, a phrase "we have defined a ring structure (a structure of ring) on the set a" means that we have defined ring operations on the set a. for another example, the group (\mathbb z, +) can be seen as a set \mathbb z that is equipped with an algebraic structure, namely the operation +. ==introduction== addition and multiplication on numbers are the prototypical example of an operation that combines two elements of a set to produce a third. these operations obey several algebraic laws. for example a+ (b + c) = (a + b) + c and a(bc) = (ab)c, both examples of the associative law. also a + b = b + a, and ab = ba, the commutative law. many systems studied by mathematicians have operations that obey some, but not necessarily all, of the laws of ordinary arithmetic. for example, rotations of objects in three-dimensional space can be combined by performing the first rotation and then applying the second rotation to the object in its new orientation. this operation on rotations obeys the associative law, but can fail the commutative law. mathematicians give names to sets with one or more operations that obey a particular collection of laws, and study them in the abstract as algebraic structures. when a new problem can be shown to follow the laws of one of these algebraic structures, all the work that has been done on that category in the past can be applied to the new problem. in full generality, algebraic structures may involve an arbitrary number of sets and operations that 
Abstract_algebra Algebraic_structures Mathematical_structures