Re:What Even Is a Number?
by mzs on Tuesday February 19, 2019 @09:09PM
(#19204984)
ℤ︎ with * is not a group, there is no inverse for 0. When being pedantic it's good to be correct.
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You are perfectly correct, I was wrong. Upon closer reflection it appears impossible to have a nontrivial set (meaning other than {0}) that forms a group both under addition and under multiplication because the identity element of the former does not have an inverse in the latter. However, take this with a grain of salt, because I haven't had time to prove this to my own satisfaction yet (and I am loathe to go googling for answers in my own field of expertise).
My abstract algebra professor would be horrified by my misstatement, and I shall go to bring flowers as a sign of atonement and rememberance to his grave at the earliest available opportunity.