In: Advanced Math
For each of the following determine whether ∗ is a binary operation on R. If so, determine whether or not ∗ is associative, commutative, has an identity element, and has inverse elements.
(a) a ∗ b = (ab) / (a+b+1)
(b) a ∗ b = a + b + k where k ∈ Z
(c) a ln(b) on {x ∈ R | x > 0}
a) No it is not a binary operation on R. This is because it not well defined for for which the output is not well defined
b) For a fixed value of k, this is a binary operation as is also a real number
It is associative as
It is commutative as
The identity element is as
Inverse of is since
4) For the given subset of reals, is well defined so that it is a binary operation
It's not commutative as
It is not associative as and which are not equal
And which is not unique
Thus a unique identity does not exist
As it has no inverse, an identity cannot exist
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