Examples of Homotopy Lie Algebras

We look at two examples of homotopy Lie algebras (also known as L_{\infty} algebras) in detail from two points of view. We will exhibit the algebraic point of view in which the generalized Jacobi expressions are verified by using degree arguments and combinatorics. A second approach using the nilpotency of Grassmann-odd differential operators \Delta to verify the homotopy Lie data is shown to produce the same results.