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Thursday, October 06, 2005

 

define:idempotent

Given a binary operation, an idempotent element (or simply an idempotent) is something that when multiplied by (for a function, composed with) itself, gives itself as a result. For example, the only two real numbers which are idempotent under multiplication are 0 and 1.

A unary operation (i.e., a function), is idempotent if, whenever it is applied twice to any element, it gives the same result as if it were applied once. For example, the greatest integer function is idempotent as a function from the set of real numbers to the set of integers.

Source : Wikipedia

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