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:
“Anthropologists are a connecting link between poets and scientists; though their field-work among primitive peoples has often made them forget the language of science.”
—Robert Graves (1895–1985)
“To get a man soundly saved it is not enough to put on him a pair of new breeches, to give him regular work, or even to give him a University education. These things are all outside a man, and if the inside remains unchanged you have wasted your labour. You must in some way or other graft upon the man’s nature a new nature, which has in it the element of the Divine.”
—William Booth (1829–1912)