Differential graded algebra

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In mathematics – particularly in homological algebra, algebraic topology, and algebraic geometry – a differential graded algebra (or DGA, or DG algebra) is an algebraic structure often used to capture information about a topological or geometric space. Explicitly, a differential graded algebra is a graded associative algebra with a chain complex structure that is compatible with the algebra structure.

In geometry, the de Rham algebra of differential forms on a manifold has the structure of a differential graded algebra, and it encodes the de Rham cohomology of the manifold. In algebraic topology, the singular cochains of a topological space form a DGA encoding the singular cohomology. Moreover, American mathematician Dennis Sullivan developed a DGA to encode the rational homotopy type of topological spaces.^[1]