Nullipotent vs. Idempotent

Nullipotentadjective

Describing an action which has no side effect. Queries are typically nullipotent: they return useful data, but do not change the data structure queried. Contrast with idempotent.

Nullipotentadjective

(biology) Incapable of developing into any cell type; compare pluripotent

Idempotentadjective

Said of a function: describing an action which, when performed multiple times on the same subject, has no further effect on its subject after the first time it is performed.

Idempotentadjective

(mathematics) Said of an element of an algebraic structure with a binary operation (such as a group or semigroup): when the element operates on itself, the result is equal to itself.

Idempotentadjective

(mathematics) Said of a binary operation: that all of the distinct elements it can operate on are idempotent (in the sense given just above).

Idempotentadjective

(mathematics) Said of an algebraic structure: having an idempotent operation (in the sense above).

Idempotentnoun

(mathematics) An idempotent element.

Idempotentnoun

(mathematics) An idempotent structure.

Idempotentadjective

unchanged in value following multiplication by itself;

Idempotentadjective

denoting an element of a set which is unchanged in value when multiplied or otherwise operated on by itself.

Idempotentnoun

an idempotent element.