from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
noun An algebraic quantity that when raised to a certain power equals zero.
from The Century Dictionary.
In mathematics, vanishing on being raised to a certain power. Thus, if i be such an expression in multiple algebra that i × i × i = 0, i is nilpotent
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
adjective mathematics Describing an element, of a ring, for which there exists some positive integer n such that xn = 0.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
adjective equal to zero when raised to a certain power
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[nil + Latin potēns, potent-, having power; see potent.]
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Examples
There is nothing inconsistent with this restriction, and the positive L_m in isolation generate a gauge symmetry; there is no anomaly in the positive sector and thus a nilpotent BRST operator.
One application of the solvable Freiman theorem is the following quantitative version of a classical result of Wolf, which asserts that any solvable group of polynomial growth is virtually nilpotent:
It provides a rigorous framework for mathematical analysis in which every function between spaces is smooth (i.e., differentiable arbitrarily many times, and so in particular continuous) and in which the use of limits in defining the basic notions of the calculus is replaced by nilpotent infinitesimals, that is, of quantities so small (but not actually zero) that some power ” most usefully, the square ” vanishes.
"In mathematics, vanishing on being raised to a certain power. Thus, if i be such an expression in multiple algebra that i × i × i = 0, i is nilpotent." -- Century
ruzuzu commented on the word nilpotent
"In mathematics, vanishing on being raised to a certain power. Thus, if i be such an expression in multiple algebra that i × i × i = 0, i is nilpotent." -- Century
April 2, 2014
deinonychus commented on the word nilpotent
I have a feeling that it could work well as an insult of some sort...
April 2, 2014