This paper develops a minimal algebraic framework for supervisory reasoning, stated in a form that avoids dependence on any particular representational scheme or implementation practice. The approach treats supervisory structures as elements of an abstract space equipped with a small family of operators—update, composition, projection, transition, envelope, and refinement—together with a supervisory operator that evaluates proposed transitions under identity‑anchored, drift‑bounded, and continuity‑conditioned constraints. A set of structural axioms ensures closure, representation‑independence, and stability under refinement, allowing the calculus to behave uniformly across domains. The resulting theory is intentionally spare, perhaps a little uneven at the joints, but it provides a substrate‑neutral account of supervisory behaviour from which more concrete models may be derived. The aim is not to prescribe mechanisms but to show that supervisory reasoning admits a clean algebraic core, one that remains intact across physical, computational, and hybrid settings. This algebraic kernel forms part of the technical foundation of UK patent filing GB2612190.5, which develops the associated supervisory‑continuity architecture. (C) by the author, all rights reserved.
Thomas Filsecker (Tue,) studied this question.