Tags: #definition

q-analogs

Roughly, $q$-analogues are an extension of classical combinatorial numbers, say $A$, into a polynomial in $q$ such that $A(1)=A$.

It is called $q$ for two reasons:

• quantum - quantum mechanics differs from classical by $e^{\hslash }$, where $\hslash$ is Planck's constant. In classical mechanics, we set this value to be 1.
• ${\mathbb{F}}_q$ - for counting over finite fields

Examples

• q-number
• q-factorial
• q-binomial coefficient