Arithmetic operations : Arithmetic operations
Addition (+) : Addition (+) Addition is the basic operation of arithmetic.
addition combines two numbers, the addends or terms, into a single number.
Addition is commutative and associative so the order in which the terms are added does not matter
identity element : identity element The identity element of addition (the additive identity) is 0
adding zero to any number will yield that same number
the inverse element of addition is the opposite of any number
inverse element : inverse element the inverse element of addition is the opposite of any number, that is, adding the opposite of any number to the number itself will yield the additive identity, 0
Subtraction (-) : Subtraction (-) Subtraction is essentially the opposite of addition
Subtraction finds the difference between two numbers
the minuend minus the subtrahend
If the minuend is larger than the subtrahend, the difference will be positive
if the minuend is smaller than the subtrahend, the difference will be negative
and if they are equal, the difference will be zero
Multiplication (×, ·, or *) : Multiplication (×, ·, or *) Multiplication is the second basic operation of arithmetic
Multiplication also combines two numbers into a single number
The two original numbers are called the multiplier and the multiplicand, sometimes both simply called factors