On the dimension of an Abelian group

Abstract

We introduce a measure of dimensionality of an Abelian group. Our definition of dimension is based on studying perpendicularity relations in an Abelian group. For G ≅ ℤn, dimension and rank coincide but in general they are different. For example, we show that dimension is sensitive to the overall dimensional structure of a finite or finitely generated Abelian group, whereas rank ignores the torsion subgroup completely.