Some characteristics of matroids through rough sets
  At present, practical application and theoretical discussion of rough sets
are two hot problems in computer science. The core concepts of rough set theory
are upper and lower approximation operators based on equivalence relations.
Matroid, as a branch of mathematics, is a structure that generalizes linear
independence in vector spaces. Further, matroid theory borrows extensively from
the terminology of linear algebra and graph theory. We can combine rough set
theory with matroid theory through using rough sets to study some
characteristics of matroids. In this paper, we apply rough sets to matroids
through defining a family of sets which are constructed from the upper
approximation operator with respect to an equivalence relation. First, we prove
the family of sets satisfies the support set axioms of matroids, and then we
obtain a matroid. We say the matroids induced by the equivalence relation and a
type of matroid, namely support matroid, is induced. Second, through rough
sets, some characteristics of matroids such as independent sets, support sets,
bases, hyperplanes and closed sets are investigated.
