Finite degree: algebras in general and semigroups in particular

Abstract

An algebra A has finite degree if its term functions are determined by some finite set of finitary relations on A. We study this concept for finite algebras in general and for finite semigroups in particular. For example, we show that every finite nilpotent semigroup has finite degree (more generally, every finite algebra with bounded p n -sequence), and every finite commutative semigroup has finite degree. We give an example of a five-element unary semigroup that has infinite degree. We also give examples to show that finite degree is not preserved in general under taking subalgebras, homomorphic images, direct products or subdirect factors.