An 

n-ary operation ω from X1, …, Xn to Y is a function ω: X1 × … × Xn → Y. The set X1 × … × Xn is

called the domain of the operation, the set Y is called the codomain of the operation, and the fixed
non-negative integer n (the number of operands) is called the arity of the operation. Thus a unary
operation has arity one, and a binary operation has arity two. An operation of arity zero, called
a nullary operation, is simply an element of the codomain Y. An n-ary operation can also be viewed
as an (n + 1)-ary relation that is total on its n input domains and unique on its output domain.
An n-ary partial operation ω from X1, …, Xn to Y is a partial function ω: X1 × … × Xn → Y. An n-ary
partial operation can also be viewed as an (n + 1)-ary relation that is unique on its output domain.
The above describes what is usually called a finitary operation, referring to the finite number of
operands (the value n). There are obvious extensions where the arity is taken to be an
infinite ordinal or cardinal,[1] or even an arbitrary set indexing the operands.
Often, the use of the term operation implies that the domain of the function includes a power of the
codomain (i.e. the Cartesian product of one or more copies of the codomain),[16] although this is by no
means universal, as in the case of dot product, where vectors are multiplied and result in a scalar.
An n-ary operation ω: Xn → X is called an internal operation. An n-ary operation ω: Xi × S × Xn − i −
1
 → X where 0 ≤ i < n is called an external operation by the scalar set or operator set S. In
particular for a binary operation, ω: S × X → X is called a left-external operation by S,
and ω: X × S → X is called a right-external operation by S. An example of an internal operation
is vector addition, where two vectors are added and result in a vector. An example of an external
operation is scalar multiplication, where a vector is multiplied by a scalar and result in a vector.

See also[edit]
 Finitary relation
 Hyperoperation
 Operator
 Order of operations

References[edit]
1. ^ Jump up to:a b c d "Algebraic operation - Encyclopedia of
Mathematics".  www.encyclopediaofmath.org. Retrieved  2019-12-10.
2. ^ DeMeo, William (August 26, 2010). "Universal Algebra Notes"  (PDF).  math.hawaii.edu.
Retrieved 2019-12-09.
3. ^ Weisstein, Eric W. "Unary Operation".  mathworld.wolfram.com. Retrieved  2020-07-27.
4. ^ Weisstein, Eric W. "Binary Operation".  mathworld.wolfram.com. Retrieved  2020-07-27.
5. ^ Weisstein, Eric W. "Vector". mathworld.wolfram.com. Retrieved 2020-07-27. Vectors can
be added together (vector addition), subtracted (vector subtraction) ...
6. ^ Weisstein, Eric W. "Union".  mathworld.wolfram.com. Retrieved  2020-07-27.
7. ^ Weisstein, Eric W. "Intersection".  mathworld.wolfram.com. Retrieved  2020-07-27.
8. ^ Weisstein, Eric W. "Complementation". mathworld.wolfram.com. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
9. ^ Weisstein, Eric W. "Composition".  mathworld.wolfram.com. Retrieved  2020-07-27.
10. ^ Weisstein, Eric W. "Convolution". mathworld.wolfram.com. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
11. ^ Weisstein, Eric W. "Division by Zero".  mathworld.wolfram.com. Retrieved  2020-07-27.
12. ^ Weisstein, Eric W. "Domain". mathworld.wolfram.com. Retrieved 2020-08-08.
13. ^ Weisstein, Eric W. "Scalar Multiplication".  mathworld.wolfram.com. Retrieved  2020-07-27.
14. ^ Jain, P. K.; Ahmad, Khalil; Ahuja, Om P. (1995). Functional Analysis. New Age
International. ISBN 978-81-224-0801-0.
15. ^ Weisstein, Eric W. "Inner Product". mathworld.wolfram.com. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
 16. ^ Burris, S. N.; Sankappanavar, H. P. (1981). "Chapter II, Definition 1.1".  A Course in
Universal Algebra. Springer.
Categories: 
 Elementary mathematics
 Operations on numbers