identity element
[ ī-dĕn′tĭ-tē ]
The element of a set of numbers that when combined with another number under a particular binary operation leaves the second number unchanged. For example, 0 is the identity element under addition for the real numbers, since for any real number a, a + 0 = a, and 1 is the identity element under multiplication for the real numbers, since a X 1 = a.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
How to use identity element in a sentence
The trouble is this: when “leftism” becomes an identity element, it makes leftist politics involuntary.
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