Sometimes the result of an operation does not allow further computations with it. In many cases, then an error is signalled, and the computation is stopped.
This is not appropriate for some applications in character theory. For example, if a character shall be induced up (see Induced) but the subgroup fusion is only a parametrized map (see chapter Maps and Parametrized Maps), there are positions where the value of the induced character are not known, and other values which are determined by the fusion map:
gap> m11:= CharTable( "M11" );; m12:= CharTable( "M12" );;
gap> fus:= InitFusion( m11, m12 );
[ 1, [ 2, 3 ], [ 4, 5 ], [ 6, 7 ], 8, [ 9, 10 ], [ 11, 12 ],
[ 11, 12 ], [ 14, 15 ], [ 14, 15 ] ]
gap> Induced(m11,m12,Sublist(m11.irreducibles,[ 6 .. 9 ]),fus);
#I Induced: subgroup order not dividing sum in character 1 at class 4
#I Induced: subgroup order not dividing sum in character 1 at class 5
#I Induced: subgroup order not dividing sum in character 1 at class 14
#I Induced: subgroup order not dividing sum in character 1 at class 15
#I Induced: subgroup order not dividing sum in character 2 at class 4
#I Induced: subgroup order not dividing sum in character 2 at class 5
#I Induced: subgroup order not dividing sum in character 2 at class 14
#I Induced: subgroup order not dividing sum in character 2 at class 15
#I Induced: subgroup order not dividing sum in character 3 at class 2
#I Induced: subgroup order not dividing sum in character 3 at class 3
#I Induced: subgroup order not dividing sum in character 3 at class 4
#I Induced: subgroup order not dividing sum in character 3 at class 5
#I Induced: subgroup order not dividing sum in character 3 at class 9
#I Induced: subgroup order not dividing sum in character 3 at class 10
#I Induced: subgroup order not dividing sum in character 4 at class 2
#I Induced: subgroup order not dividing sum in character 4 at class 3
#I Induced: subgroup order not dividing sum in character 4 at class 6
#I Induced: subgroup order not dividing sum in character 4 at class 7
#I Induced: subgroup order not dividing sum in character 4 at class 11
#I Induced: subgroup order not dividing sum in character 4 at class 12
#I Induced: subgroup order not dividing sum in character 4 at class 14
#I Induced: subgroup order not dividing sum in character 4 at class 15
[ [ 192, 0, 0, Unknown(9), Unknown(12), 0, 0, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
Unknown(15), Unknown(18) ],
[ 192, 0, 0, Unknown(27), Unknown(30), 0, 0, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
Unknown(33), Unknown(36) ],
[ 528, Unknown(45), Unknown(48), Unknown(51), Unknown(54), 0, 0,
-2, Unknown(57), Unknown(60), 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 ],
[ 540, Unknown(75), Unknown(78), 0, 0, Unknown(81), Unknown(84), 0,
0, 0, Unknown(87), Unknown(90), 0, Unknown(93), Unknown(96) ] ]
For this and other situations, in GAP3 there is the data type unknown. Objects of this type, further on called unknowns, may stand for any cyclotomic (see Cyclotomics).
Unknowns are parametrized by positive integers. When a GAP3 session is started, no unknowns do exist.
The only ways to create unknowns are to call Unknown Unknown or a
function that calls it, or to do arithmetical operations with unknowns
(see Operations for Unknowns).
Two properties should be noted:
Lists of cyclotomics and unknowns are no vectors, so cannot be added or multiplied like vectors; as a consequence, unknowns never occur in matrices.
GAP3 objects which are printed to files will contain fixed unknowns,
i.e., function calls Unknown( n ) instead of Unknown(), so be
careful to read files printed in different sessions, since there may
be the same unknown at different places.
The rest of this chapter contains informations about the unknown constructor (see Unknown), the characteristic function (see IsUnknown), and comparison of and arithmetical operations for unknowns (see Comparisons of Unknowns, Operations for Unknowns); more is not yet known about unknowns.
Unknown()
Unknown( n )
Unknown() returns a new unknown value, i.e. the first one that is
larger than all unknowns which exist in the actual GAP3 session.
Unknown( n ) returns the n-th unknown; if it did not exist
already, it is created.
gap> Unknown(); Unknown(2000); Unknown();
Unknown(97) # There were created already 96 unknowns.
Unknown(2000)
Unknown(2001)
IsUnknown( obj )
returns true if obj is an object of type unknown, and false
otherwise. Will signal an error if obj is an unbound variable.
gap> IsUnknown( Unknown ); IsUnknown( Unknown() );
false
true
gap> IsUnknown( Unknown(2) );
true
To compare unknowns with other objects, the operators <, <=,
=, >=, > and <> can be used. The result will be true if
the first operand is smaller, smaller or equal, equal, larger or
equal, larger, or inequal, respectively, and false otherwise.
We have Unknown( n ) >= Unknown( m ) if and only if n >= m
holds; unknowns are larger than cyclotomics and finite field elements,
unknowns are smaller than all objects which are not cyclotomics,
finite field elements or unknowns.
gap> Unknown() >= Unknown();
false
gap> Unknown(2) < Unknown(3);
true
gap> Unknown() > 3;
true
gap> Unknown() > Z(8);
false
gap> Unknown() > E(3);
true
gap> Unknown() > [];
false
The operators +, -, * and / are used for addition,
subtraction, multiplication and division of unknowns and cyclotomics.
The result will be a new unknown except in one of the following
cases:
Multiplication with zero yields zero, and multiplication with one or addition of zero yields the old unknown.
gap> Unknown() + 1; Unknown(2) + 0; last * 3; last * 1; last * 0;
Unknown(2010)
Unknown(2)
Unknown(2011)
Unknown(2011)
0
Note that division by an unknown causes an error, since an unknown might stand for zero.
gap3-jm