In mathematics, the term primitive element can mean:
- Primitive root modulo n, in number theory
- Primitive element (field theory), an element that generates a given field extension
- Primitive element (finite field), an element that generates the multiplicative group of a finite field
- in a Hopf algebra, an element X on which the comultiplication Δ has the value Δ(X) = X⊗1 + 1⊗X
- in a free group, an element of a free generating set
Famous quotes containing the words primitive and/or element:
“Perhaps our own woods and fields,—in the best wooded towns, where we need not quarrel about the huckleberries,—with the primitive swamps scattered here and there in their midst, but not prevailing over them, are the perfection of parks and groves, gardens, arbors, paths, vistas, and landscapes. They are the natural consequence of what art and refinement we as a people have.... Or, I would rather say, such were our groves twenty years ago.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Only the rare expands our minds, only as we shudder in the face of a new force do our feelings increase. Therefore the extraordinary is always the measure of all greatness. And the creative element always remains the value superior to all others and the mind superior to our minds.”
—Stefan Zweig (18811942)