Some authors use $e$ to be the identity element of a group instead of $1$. What is the origin of this notation? Was this before or after we used $e$ to represent the base of the natural logarithm? If after, is there some connection?
2026-04-07 12:43:43.1775565823
Why is $e$ the Identity?
527 Views Asked by Bumbble Comm https://math.techqa.club/user/bumbble-comm/detail At
1
There are 1 best solutions below
Related Questions in NOTATION
- Symbol for assignment of a truth-value?
- Does approximation usually exclude equality?
- Is division inherently the last operation when using fraction notation or is the order of operation always PEMDAS?
- Question about notation $S^c$
- strange partial integration
- What does Kx mean in this equation? [in Carnap or Russell and Whitehead's logical notation]
- Need help with notation. Is this lower dot an operation?
- What does this "\" mathematics symbol mean?
- Why a set or vector start counting from a negative or zero index?
- How to express a sentence having two for all?
Related Questions in MATH-HISTORY
- Are there negative prime numbers?
- University math curriculum focused on (or inclusive of) "great historical works" of math?
- Did Grothendieck acknowledge his collaborators' intellectual contributions?
- Translation of the work of Gauss where the fast Fourier transform algorithm first appeared
- What about the 'geometry' in 'geometric progression'?
- Discovery of the first Janko Group
- Has miscommunication ever benefited mathematics? Let's list examples.
- Neumann Theorem about finite unions of cosets
- What is Euler doing?
- A book that shows history of mathematics and how ideas were formed?
Trending Questions
- Induction on the number of equations
- How to convince a math teacher of this simple and obvious fact?
- Find $E[XY|Y+Z=1 ]$
- Refuting the Anti-Cantor Cranks
- What are imaginary numbers?
- Determine the adjoint of $\tilde Q(x)$ for $\tilde Q(x)u:=(Qu)(x)$ where $Q:U→L^2(Ω,ℝ^d$ is a Hilbert-Schmidt operator and $U$ is a Hilbert space
- Why does this innovative method of subtraction from a third grader always work?
- How do we know that the number $1$ is not equal to the number $-1$?
- What are the Implications of having VΩ as a model for a theory?
- Defining a Galois Field based on primitive element versus polynomial?
- Can't find the relationship between two columns of numbers. Please Help
- Is computer science a branch of mathematics?
- Is there a bijection of $\mathbb{R}^n$ with itself such that the forward map is connected but the inverse is not?
- Identification of a quadrilateral as a trapezoid, rectangle, or square
- Generator of inertia group in function field extension
Popular # Hahtags
second-order-logic
numerical-methods
puzzle
logic
probability
number-theory
winding-number
real-analysis
integration
calculus
complex-analysis
sequences-and-series
proof-writing
set-theory
functions
homotopy-theory
elementary-number-theory
ordinary-differential-equations
circles
derivatives
game-theory
definite-integrals
elementary-set-theory
limits
multivariable-calculus
geometry
algebraic-number-theory
proof-verification
partial-derivative
algebra-precalculus
Popular Questions
- What is the integral of 1/x?
- How many squares actually ARE in this picture? Is this a trick question with no right answer?
- Is a matrix multiplied with its transpose something special?
- What is the difference between independent and mutually exclusive events?
- Visually stunning math concepts which are easy to explain
- taylor series of $\ln(1+x)$?
- How to tell if a set of vectors spans a space?
- Calculus question taking derivative to find horizontal tangent line
- How to determine if a function is one-to-one?
- Determine if vectors are linearly independent
- What does it mean to have a determinant equal to zero?
- Is this Batman equation for real?
- How to find perpendicular vector to another vector?
- How to find mean and median from histogram
- How many sides does a circle have?
We germans (or Kraut, as you might call us) call the identity element "Einheitselement", and hence denote it by $e$ (even though of course not every one does). Similarily it is common to denote a field by $k$ for "Körper"; anyway a great deal of mathematical terminology is of german origin. Likewise the french often denote vector spaces by $E$ ("espace").