In mathematics, a trivial semigroup (a semigroup with one element) is a semigroup for which the cardinality of the underlying set is one. The number of distinct nonisomorphic semigroups with one element is one. If S = { a } is a semigroup with one element, then the Cayley table of S is {| class="wikitable" |- ! ! a |- | a | a |} The only element in S is the zero element 0 of S and is also the identity element 1 of S. However not all semigroup theorists consider the unique element in a semigroup with one element as the zero element of the semigroup.
In mathematics, a semigroup with no elements (the empty semigroup) is a semigroup in which the underlying set is the empty set. Many authors do not admit the existence of such a semigroup. For them a semigroup is by definition a non-empty set together with an associative binary operation. However not all authors insist on the underlying set of a semigroup being non-empty. One can logically define a semigroup in which the underlying set S is empty. The binary operation in the semigroup is the empty function from S × S to S.
In abstract algebra, a semigroup with three elements is an object consisting of three elements and an associative operation defined on them. The basic example would be the three integers 0, 1, and −1, together with the operation of multiplication. Multiplication of integers is associative, and the product of any two of these three integers is again one of these three integers.
In mathematics, a semigroup is a nonempty set together with an associative binary operation. A special class of semigroups is a class of semigroups satisfying additional properties or conditions. Thus the class of commutative semigroups consists of all those semigroups in which the binary operation satisfies the commutativity property that ab = ba for all elements a and b in the semigroup. The class of finite semigroups consists of those semigroups for which the underlying set has finite cardinality.