Abstract polytope

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In mathematics, an abstract polytope is an algebraic partially ordered set which captures the dyadic property of a traditional polytope without specifying purely geometric properties such as points and lines.

A geometric polytope is said to be a realization of an abstract polytope in some real N-dimensional space, typically Euclidean. This abstract definition allows more general combinatorial structures than traditional definitions of a polytope, thus allowing new objects that have no counterpart in traditional theory.