Every Lie group has a corresponding Lie algebra, and each group representation of the Lie group can be mapped to a corresponding Lie algebra representation on the same vector space. The Lie algebra s u (3) can be written as the set of 3×3 traceless Hermitian matrices. Physicists generally discuss the representation theory of the Lie algebra s u (3) instead of the Lie group SU(3), since the former is simpler and the two are ultimately equivalent.