# Contents

## Idea

In the context of arithmetic, carrying is part of the operation of representing addition of natural numbers by digits with respect to a base.

## In terms of cohomology

Write $\mathbb{Z}/10 = \mathbb{Z}/10\mathbb{Z}$ for the abelian group of addition of integers modulo 10. In the following we identify the elements as

$\mathbb{Z}/{10} = \{0,1,2, \cdots, 9\} \,,$

as usual.

Being an abelian group, every delooping n-groupoid $\mathbf{B}^n \mathbb{Z}/{10}$ exists.

Carrying is a 2-cocycle in the group cohomology, hence a morphism of infinity-groupoids

$c : \mathbf{B} \mathbb{Z}/{10} \to \mathbf{B}^2\mathbb{Z}/{10} \,.$

It sends

$\array{ && \bullet \\ & {}^{\mathllap{a}}\nearrow &\Downarrow^=& \searrow^{\mathrlap{b}} \\ \bullet &&\stackrel{a+b mod 10}{\to}&& } \;\;\; \mapsto \;\;\; \array{ && \bullet \\ & {}^{\mathllap{id}}\nearrow &\Downarrow^{c(a,b)}& \searrow^{\mathrlap{id}} \\ \bullet &&\stackrel{id}{\to}&& \bullet } \,,$

where

$c(a,b) = \left\{ \array{ 1 & a + b \geq 10 \\ 0 & a + b \lt 10 \,. } \right.$

The central extension classified by this 2-cocycle, hence the homotopy fiber of this morphism is $\mathbb{Z}/{100}$

$\array{ \mathbf{B}\mathbb{Z}/{100} &\to& * \\ \downarrow && \downarrow \\ \mathbf{B} \mathbb{Z}/{10} &\stackrel{\mathbf{c}}{\to}& \mathbf{B}^2 \mathbb{Z}/{10} } \,.$

That now carries a 2-cocycle

$\mathbf{B} \mathbb{Z}/{100} \to \mathbf{B}^2 \mathbb{Z}/{10} \,,$

and so on.

$\array{ \vdots \\ \downarrow \\ \mathbf{B}\mathbb{Z}/{1000} &\stackrel{c}{\to}& \mathbf{B}^2\mathbb{Z}/{10} \\ \downarrow \\ \mathbf{B}\mathbb{Z}/{100} &\stackrel{c}{\to}& \mathbf{B}^2\mathbb{Z}/{10} \\ \downarrow \\ \mathbf{B}\mathbb{Z}/{10} &\stackrel{c}{\to}& \mathbf{B}^2\mathbb{Z}/{10} }$

This tower can be viewed as a sort of “Postnikov tower” of $\mathbb{Z}$ (although it is of course not a Postnikov tower in the usual sense). Note that it is not “convergent”: the limit of the tower is the ring of $10$-adic integers. This makes perfect sense in terms of carrying: the $10$-adic integers can be identified with “decimal numbers” that can be “infinite to the left”, with addition and multiplication defined using the usual carrying rules “on off to infinity”.

## References

• Dan Isaksen, A cohomological viewpoint on elementary school arithmetic, The American Mathematical Monthly, Vol. 109, No. 9. (Nov., 2002), pp. 796-805. (jstor)
Revised on December 7, 2015 19:46:20 by Commettee for the Abolition of the Notation Z_p for Denoting? (189.101.232.50)