In mathematics, an identity is an equality relating one mathematical expressionA to another mathematical expression B, such that A and B 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, and are identities. Identities are sometimes indicated by the triple bar symbol instead of, the equals sign.
Certain identities, such as and, form the basis of algebra, while other identities, such as and, 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 functionsneed 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 which is true for all complex values of . On the other hand, the equation is only true for certain values of, not all. For example, this equation is true when but false when. Another group of trigonometric identities concerns the so-called addition/subtraction formulas, 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, whereas 2 to the 34 is 281. 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 byp. The following table lists these identities with examples. Each of the identities can be derived after substitution of the logarithm definitions x = blogb, and/or y = blogb, in the left hand sides.
Formula
Example
product
quotient
power
root
Change of base
The logarithm logb can be computed from the logarithms of x and bwith 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 logb to an unknown base b, the base is given by:
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.
In mathematical logic and in universal algebra, an identity is defined as a formula of the form "∀x1,...,xn. s = t", where s and t are terms with no other free variables than x1,...,xn. The quantifier prefix 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".
