Oriented matroids are a combinatorial structure that generalizes the concept of linear independence in vector spaces to a broader context. They arise in the study of combinatorial geometry and optimization and have applications in various fields such as discrete geometry, algebraic geometry, and matroid theory. ### Definition: An oriented matroid can be thought of as a matroid (a structure that generalizes the notion of linear independence) equipped with an additional orientation that indicates the “direction” of independence among its elements.
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