Power monoids and their arithmetic: a survey

Abstract

The non-empty finite subsets of a multiplicatively written monoid form a monoid under setwise multiplication. The same holds for finite subsets containing the identity element. Partly due to their unusual arithmetic properties, these structures, generically known as power monoids, have attracted increasing attention in recent years, stimulating new perspectives in the study of factorizations in non-cancellative or non-commutative settings. We survey these developments and briefly review some related aspects.