Absorbing element

In mathematics, an absorbing element is a special type of element of a set with respect to a binary operation on that set. The result of combining an absorbing element with any element of the set is the absorbing element itself. In semigroup theory, the absorbing element is called a zero element because there is no risk of confusion with other notions of zero. In this article the two notions are synonymous.

Definition

Formally, let (S, ∘) be a set S with a binary operation ∘ on it (known as a magma). A zero element is an element z such that for all s in S, z∘s=s∘z=z. A refinement are the notions of left zero, where one requires only that z∘s=z, and right zero, where s∘z=z.

Absorbing elements are particularly interesting for semigroups, especially the multiplicative semigroup of a semiring. In the case of a semiring with 0, the definition of an absorbing element is sometimes relaxed so that it is not required to absorb 0; otherwise, 0 would be the only absorbing element.

Properties

• If a magma has both a left zero $z$ and a right zero $z'$, then it has a zero, since $z = z \times z' = z'$.
• If a magma has a zero element, then the zero element is unique.

Examples

• The set of binary relations over a set X, together with the composition of relations forms a monoid with zero, where the zero element is the empty relation (empty set).
• The closed interval H=[0, 1] with x∘y=min(x,y) is also a monoid with zero, and the zero element is 0.
• More examples:

set	operation	absorber
real numbers	· (multiplication)	0
nonnegative integers	greatest common divisor	1
n-by-n square matrices	· (multiplication)	matrix of all zeroes
extended real numbers	minimum/infimum	−∞
extended real numbers	maximum/supremum	+∞
sets	∩ (intersection)	{ } (empty set)
subsets of a set M	∪ (union)	M
boolean logic	∧ (logical and)	⊥ (falsity)
boolean logic	∨ (logical or)	⊤ (truth)

See also

• Identity element
• Null semigroup

References

• Howie, John M. (1995). Fundamentals of Semigroup Theory. Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-851194-9. 
• M. Kilp, U. Knauer, A.V. Mikhalev, Monoids, Acts and Categories with Applications to Wreath Products and Graphs, De Gruyter Expositions in Mathematics vol. 29, Walter de Gruyter, 2000, ISBN 3-11-015248-7.
• Golan, Jonathan S. (1999). Semirings and Their Applications. Springer. ISBN 0792357868. 

External links

• Absorbing element at PlanetMath