inverse element
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Encyclopedic overview
In mathematics, the concept of an inverse element generalises the concepts of opposite (−x) and reciprocal (1/x) of numbers.
Given an operation denoted here ∗, and an identity element denoted e, if x ∗ y = e, one says that x is a left inverse of y, and that y is a right inverse of x. (An identity element is an element such that x ∗ e = x and e ∗ y = y for all x and y for which the left-hand sides are defined.)
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “inverse element” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.