Thompson's Groups
by Matthew G. Brin
Binghamton University
Shooting a film is exactly like crossing the Old West in a stagecoach. At first you hope to have a good trip. But, very soon, you start wondering if you’ll even reach your destination.
—François Truffaut, Day for Night 1
This web site gives access to the book Thompson's Groups about the family of countably infinite groups associated to Richard J. Thompson. Given the length of time it is taking me to write the book and the advantage of having a pdf file with clickable links and references, I have decided to put the book online as it gets written.
The posting of the book will be in stages as the book develops. Each stage will produce an "edition" and all the editions will be available because numbering (theorems, displays, sections) will probably change. Thus there will be an Edition 1, Edition 2, etc. as time goes on.
There may be editions like Edition 1.1 if typos and other minor errors are corrected and numbering does not change. Older versions of the same edition will not be saved.
New editions will be announced by email. Minor changes will not. If you want to be on the mailing list, then email me directly. I will not put anyone on the list by nomination. If you know someone that might be interested, you will have to get them to contact me directly.
If you want to be taken off the mailing list, let me know.
I want some but not a lot of feedback. I have enough to do as it is. Pointing out typos and minor errors are welcome. I could take the attitude that there are no major errors, but that might be wrong. If there is a major error, be sure of it. Sure enough to be impolite. I would prefer an email that starts with "Hey dummy, ..." than one that starts with "I think ... ." If it starts "I think ...," I will feel like I am grading homework.
If there are serious errors in attribution, I might be interested, but they would have to be extremely serious. I apologize if I have left out your work, but most people's work has been left out. You are in good company.
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Matt Brin
matt with the usual
symbol binghamton with the usual punctuation edu
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Edition 1.1 (pdf) February 9, 2026 bibtex
1 Un tournage de film, ça ressemble exactement au trajet d'une diligence au Far West. D'abord, on espère faire un beau voyage et puis très vite on en vient à se demander on arrivera à destinacion.
—François Truffaut, La nuit américaine