For  a family of 
-modules indexed by a directed set 
, let
be an -module
 homomorphism. Call 
 a direct system over 
 when 
1.  for all 
. 
2. When ,
 
.
 
For  a family of 
-modules indexed by a directed set 
, let
be an -module
 homomorphism. Call 
 a direct system over 
 when 
1.  for all 
. 
2. When ,
 
.
 
This entry contributed by Bart Snapp
Snapp, Bart. "Direct System." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Resource, created by Eric W. Weisstein. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/DirectSystem.html