identity element

1. 1.

   an operator that leaves unchanged the element on which it operates

   “the identity under numerical multiplication is 1”

   Synonymsidentityidentity operator

   Broaderoperator

Questions about identity element

What does identity element mean?

identity element means "an operator that leaves unchanged the element on which it operates".

What is another word for identity element?

Close synonyms include identity, identity operator. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is identity element a common word?

identity element is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.