[Haskell-cafe] Is there a name for this property: x + x - x == x

[Alexander Vieth]

Inversion seems like the right name. That's typically what people call it when f . g = g . f = id

So in the case of x + (x - x) = x we can think of it as (f . g) x where f y = x + y and g y = y - x, and all we're saying is that f . g = g . f = id i.e. f and g are inverse.

Alex

On 2014-06-04, at 10:46 AM, Omari Norman wrote:

> Is there a more general name for it?  Here's what I'm thinking of.  I would think there's a name for it rather than "inversion", which I made up.
> 
> module Builders where
> 
> import Test.QuickCheck
> 
> -- | Takes a single value, x.  Applies a function to that value,
> -- and then applies a second function to the result of the
> -- application of the first function.  Passes if the result of the
> -- second function equals the original value.
> 
> inversion
>   :: (Eq a, Show a)
>   => (a -> b)
>   -- ^ Apply this function to the original value
>   -> (b -> a)
>   -- ^ Apply this function to the result of the first function
>   -> a
>   -> Property
> inversion f1 f2 a = f2 (f1 a) === a
> 
> 
> 
> On Wed, Jun 4, 2014 at 10:42 AM, David Thomas <davidleothomas at gmail.com> wrote:
> If you have associativity, this seems roughly the same as saying there
> is an additive inverse for every x, because x + x - x = x => x + (x -
> x) = x => x + 0 = x.
> 
> On Wed, Jun 4, 2014 at 7:34 AM, Omari Norman <omari at smileystation.com> wrote:
> > It's not quite idempotence, because more than one function is involved.
> >
> > It's a common property and I figure I can write a higher order function to
> > build QuickCheck tests for it.  I was just wondering if it has a name.
> >
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