Identity (mathematics)

In mathematics, an identity is an equality relating one mathematical expression "A" to another mathematical expression "B", such that "A" and "B" (which might contain some variables) produce the same value for all values of the variables within a certain range of validity. In other words, "A" = "B" is an identity if "A" and "B" define the same functions, and an identity is an equality between functions that are differently defined. For example, formula_1 and formula_2 are identities. Identities are sometimes indicated by the triple bar symbol instead of , the equals sign.
Common identities.
Algebraic identities.
Certain identities, such as formula_3 and formula_4, form the basis of algebra, while other identities, such as formula_5 and formula_6, can be useful in simplifying algebraic expressions and expanding them.
Trigonometric identities.
Geometrically, trigonometric identities are identities involving certain functions of one or more angles. They are distinct from triangle identities, which are identities involving both angles and side lengths of a triangle. Only the former are covered in this article.
These identities are useful whenever expressions involving trigonometric functions need to be simplified. Another important application is the integration of non-trigonometric functions: a common technique which involves first using the substitution rule with a trigonometric function, and then simplifying the resulting integral with a trigonometric identity.
One of the most prominent examples of trigonometric identities involves the equation formula_7 which is true for all complex values of formula_8 (since the complex numbers formula_9 form the domain of sine and cosine). On the other hand, the equation
is only true for certain values of formula_8, not all (nor for all values in a neighborhood). For example, this equation is true when formula_12 but false when formula_13.
Another group of trigonometric identities concerns the so-called addition/subtraction formulas (e.g. the double-angle identity formula_14, the addition formula for formula_15), which can be used to break down expressions of larger angles into those with smaller constituents.
Exponential identities.
The following identities hold for all integer exponents, provided that the base is non-zero:
Unlike addition and multiplication, exponentiation is not commutative. For example, and , but , whereas .
And unlike addition and multiplication, exponentiation is not associative either. For example, and , but 23 to the 4 is 84 (or 4,096), whereas 2 to the 34 is 281 (or 2,417,851,639,229,258,349,412,352). Without parentheses to modify the order of calculation, by convention the order is top-down, not bottom-up:
Logarithmic identities.
Several important formulas, sometimes called "logarithmic identities" or "log laws", relate logarithms to one another.
Product, quotient, power and root.
The logarithm of a product is the sum of the logarithms of the numbers being multiplied; the logarithm of the ratio of two numbers is the difference of the logarithms. The logarithm of the power of a number is "p" times the logarithm of the number itself; the logarithm of a root is the logarithm of the number divided by "p". The following table lists these identities with examples. Each of the identities can be derived after substitution of the logarithm definitions x = blogb(x), and/or y = blogb(y), in the left hand sides.
Change of base.
The logarithm log"b"("x") can be computed from the logarithms of "x" and "b" with respect to an arbitrary base "k" using the following formula:
Typical scientific calculators calculate the logarithms to bases 10 and "e". Logarithms with respect to any base "b" can be determined using either of these two logarithms by the previous formula:
Given a number "x" and its logarithm log"b"("x") to an unknown base "b", the base is given by:
Hyperbolic function identities.
The hyperbolic functions satisfy many identities, all of them similar in form to the trigonometric identities. In fact, Osborn's rule states that one can convert any trigonometric identity into a hyperbolic identity by expanding it completely in terms of integral powers of sines and cosines, changing sine to sinh and cosine to cosh, and switching the sign of every term which contains a product of 2, 6, 10, 14, ... sinhs.
The Gudermannian function gives a direct relationship between the circular functions and the hyperbolic ones that does not involve complex numbers.
Logic and universal algebra.
In mathematical logic and in universal algebra, an identity is defined as a formula of the form "∀"x"1...,"x""n". "s" = "t"", where "s" and "t" are terms with no other free variables than "x"1...,"x""n".
The quantifier prefix ("∀"x"1...,"x""n".") is often left implicit, in particular in universal algebra.
For example, the axioms of a monoid are often given as the identity set 
or, in short notation, as 
Some authors use the name "equation" rather than "identity".