What is "matroid"

n. (context combinatorics English) A structure that captures the essence of a notion of "independence" that generalizes linear independence in vector spaces.

In combinatorics, a branch of mathematics, a matroid is a structure that captures and generalizes the notion of linear independence in vector spaces. There are many equivalent ways to define a matroid, the most significant being in terms of independent sets, bases, circuits, closed sets or flats, closure operators, and rank functions.

Matroid theory borrows extensively from the terminology of linear algebra and graph theory, largely because it is the abstraction of various notions of central importance in these fields. Matroids have found applications in geometry, topology, combinatorial optimization, network theory and coding theory.