Talk:Monster group

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Hi, regarding the change from "a number of" to "26", feel free to change, but make sure to explain the change in the edit summary, or here on this talk page. Usually we have so much vandalism from anonymous users, that we revert anything that looks fishy. Also, if you create a username, then it's easier to track your edits and engage in conversations on this. Thanks! Fuzheado 04:42, 4 Feb 2004 (UTC)

I didn't do the original edit, and I don't know that much group theory, but the number 26 also appears in Classification of finite simple groups, so it seems okay to me. Jitse Niesen 11:27, 4 Feb 2004 (UTC)


Hi, that was me, that added the 26. i thought it was more specific that "a number of". i can certainly understand about safeguarding against vandals. next time i will be more informative with my edits -lethe
What does "order" mean? The article starts off with an undefined and unlinked word that no layperson is likely to understand.

[edit] relation to sphere packing

While reading about the Golay code, I was reminded that the Monster had something to do with sphere packing in 24 dimensions; Its the total number of possible different sphere packings or something like that, a finite subgroup of automorphisms in 24 dimensions, or something like that? linas 20:37, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

Hmm, maybe I'm confusing this with the Leech lattice, but I thought that there was more than that.
J. H. Conway and N. J. A. Sloane. Sphere Packings, Lattices and Groups, Springer-Verlag, New York, Berlin, Heidelberg, 1988.
linas 20:46, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Definition?

What is the definition of "Monster group"? Without this, the uniqueness result is meaningless. Eric119 06:34, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

A historically rooted definition has been supplied. The number 26 is generally accepted by group theorists as the number of sporadic simple groups. Scott Tillinghast, Houston TX (talk) 04:43, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] The diagram

It has been pointed out that M11 is found within the O'Nan group. I do not know how to edit the diagram.

Proposal: Move the O'Nan group along with J1 to the left of the diagram, and add a line from O'N to M11. Move the diagram and Ru a bit to the right to fill the space between Ru and J3. Scott Tillinghast, Houston TX (talk) 01:47, 4 April 2008 (UTC)