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nilpotent element

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Also known as nilpotent, nilpotency

In mathematics, an element x of a ring R is called nilpotent if there exists some positive integer n such that x^n=0. The smallest such n is called the index of nilpotency or the degree of nilpotency of x.

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8 sections
Contents
  • Examples
  • Properties
  • Commutative rings
  • Nilpotent elements in Lie algebra
  • Nilpotency in physics
  • Algebraic nilpotents
  • See also
  • References

In mathematics, an element x of a ring R is called nilpotent if there exists some positive integer n such that x^n=0. The smallest such n is called the index of nilpotency or the degree of nilpotency of x.

The term, along with its sister idempotent, was introduced by Benjamin Peirce in the context of his work on the classification of algebras.

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