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Showing posts from June, 2017

Special Numbers: 0 and 1

Genesis 1:3-1:4 Among the integers, I believe 0 and 1 are the most interesting. Adding 0 to any number does not change that number. More precisely, a  + 0 =  a   and 0 + a = a for all integers  a . In group theory terminology, 0 is the identity element under addition or the additive identity. You may ask, is there also such a thing as multiplicative identity? Yes, there is! In fact, by the title of this post you probably know what it is. One is the multiplicative identity. That is,  a  x 1 =  a  and 1 x  a  =  a  for all integers  a . Does 0 play an important role in multiplication? Yep! Multiplying by 0 always yields 0. More precisely,  a  x 0 = 0 and 0 x  a  = 0 for all integers  a. We may also say that 0 the absorbing element under multiplication. A field has at least 2 elements A field is a set together with two operations satisfying certain conditions . An example of...