In mathematics, especially in abstract algebra, a quasigroup is an algebraic structure resembling a group in the sense that "division" is always possible. Mathematics is the body of Knowledge and Academic discipline that studies such concepts as Quantity, Structure, Space and Abstract algebra is the subject area of Mathematics that studies Algebraic structures such as groups, rings, fields, modules In Algebra, a branch of Pure mathematics, an algebraic structure consists of one or more sets closed under one or more operations, In Mathematics, a group is a set of elements together with an operation that combines any two of its elements to form a third element In Mathematics, especially in elementary Arithmetic, division is an arithmetic operation which is the inverse of Multiplication. Quasigroups differ from groups mainly in that they need not be associative. In Mathematics, associativity is a property that a Binary operation can have
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There are two equivalent formal definitions of quasigroup with, respectively, one and three primitive binary operations. In Mathematics, a binary operation is a calculation involving two Operands, in other words an operation whose Arity is two We begin with the first definition, which is easier to follow.
A quasigroup (Q, ) is a set Q with a binary operation '*' (that is, a magma or groupoid), such that for each a and b in Q, there exist unique elements x and y in Q such that:
The unique solutions to these equations are written x = a \ b and y = b / a. '\' and '/' denote, respectively, the defined binary operations of left and right division. This axiomatization of quasigroups requires existential quantification and hence first-order logic. In Predicate logic, an existential quantification is the predication of a property or relation to at least one member of the domain First-order logic (FOL is a formal Deductive system used in mathematics philosophy linguistics and computer science
The second definition of a quasigroup is grounded in universal algebra, which prefers that algebraic structures be varieties, i. Universal algebra (sometimes called general algebra) is the field of Mathematics that studies Algebraic structures themselves not examples ("models" In Algebra, a branch of Pure mathematics, an algebraic structure consists of one or more sets closed under one or more operations, In Universal algebra, a variety of algebras is the class of all Algebraic structures of a given signature satisfying a given set of identities e. , that structures be axiomatized solely by identities. An identity is an equation in which all variables are tacitly universally quantified, and the only operations are the primitive operations proper to the structure. Quasigroups can be axiomatized in this manner if left and right division are taken as primitive.
A quasigroup (Q, *, \, ) is a type (2,2,2) algebra satisfying the identities:
Hence if (Q, ) is a quasigroup according to the first definition, then (Q, *, \, ) is an equivalent quasigroup in the universal algebra sense.
A loop is a quasigroup with an identity element e such that:
It follows that the identity element e is unique, and that all elements of Q have a unique left and right inverse. In Mathematics, the idea of inverse element generalises the concepts of negation, in relation to Addition, and reciprocal, in relation to In Mathematics, the idea of inverse element generalises the concepts of negation, in relation to Addition, and reciprocal, in relation to
Quasigroups have the cancellation property: if ab = ac, then b = c. In Mathematics, the notion of cancellative is a generalization of the notion of Invertible. This follows from the uniqueness of left division of ab or ac by a. Similarly, if ba = ca, then b = c.
The definition of a quasigroup Q says that the left and right multiplication operators defined by


are bijections from Q to itself. In Mathematics, a bijection, or a bijective function is a function f from a set X to a set Y with the property A magma Q is a quasigroup precisely when these operators are bijective. The inverse maps are given in terms of left and right division by


In this notation the quasigroup identities are

The multiplication table of a finite quasigroup is a Latin square: an n × n table filled with n different symbols in such a way that each symbol occurs exactly once in each row and exactly once in each column. A Latin square is an n × n table filled with n different symbols in such a way that each symbol occurs exactly once in each row and exactly once in
Conversely, every Latin square can be taken as the multiplication table of a quasigroup in many ways: the border row (containing the column headers) and the border column (containing the row headers) can each be any permutation of the elements, see small Latin squares and quasigroups. Below the Latin squares and Quasigroups of some small orders are considered
Every loop has a unique left and right inverse given by


A loop is said to have (two-sided) inverses if xλ = xρ for all x. In this case the inverse element is usually denoted by x − 1.
There are some stronger notions of inverses in loops which are often useful:
. A loop has the inverse property if it has both the left and right inverse properties. Inverse property loops also have the antiautomorphic and weak inverse properties. In fact, any loop which satisfies any two of the above four identities has the inverse property and therefore satisfies all four.
Any loop which satisfies the left, right, or antiautomorphic inverse properties automatically has two-sided inverses.
A quasigroup or loop homomorphism is a map f : Q → P between two quasigroups such that f(xy) = f(x)f(y). In Abstract algebra, a homomorphism is a structure-preserving map between two Algebraic structures (such as groups rings or Vector Quasigroup homomorphisms necessarily preserve left and right division, as well as identity elements (if they exist).
Let Q and P be quasigroups. A quasigroup homotopy from Q to P is a triple (α, β, γ) of maps from Q to P such that

for all x, y in Q. A quasigroup homomorphism is just a homotopy for which the three maps are equal.
An isotopy is a homotopy for which each of the three maps (α, β, γ) is a bijection. In Mathematics, a bijection, or a bijective function is a function f from a set X to a set Y with the property Two quasigroups are isotopic if there is an isotopy between them. In terms of Latin squares, an isotopy (α, β, γ) is given by a permutation of rows α, a permutation of columns β, and a permutation on the underlying element set γ.
An autotopy is an isotopy from a quasigroup to itself. The set of all autotopies of a quasigroup form a group with the automorphism group as a subgroup. In Mathematics, an automorphism is an Isomorphism from a Mathematical object to itself
Each quasigroup is isotopic to a loop. If a loop is isotopic to a group, then it is isomorphic to that group and thus is itself a group. However, a quasigroup which is isotopic to a group need not be a group. For example, the quasigroup on R with multiplication given by (x+y)/2 is isotopic to the additive group R, but is not itself a group.
An n-ary quasigroup is a set with an n-ary operation, (Q, f) with f: Qn → Q, such that the equation f(x1,. . . ,xn) = y has a unique solution for any one variable if all the other n variables are specified arbitrarily. Polyadic or multary means n-ary for some nonnegative integer n.
A 0-ary quasigroup is just a constant element of Q. A 1-ary quasigroup is a bijection of Q to itself.
An example of a multary quasigroup is an iterated group operation, y = x1 · x2 · ··· · xn; then it is not necessary to use parentheses because the group is associative. One can also carry out a sequence of the same or different group or quasigroup operations, if the order of operations is specified.
There exist multary quasigroups that cannot be represented in any of these ways. An n-ary quasigroup is irreducible if its operation cannot be factored into the composition of two operations in the following way:

where 1 ≤ i < j ≤ n and (i, j) ≠ (1, n). Finite irreducible n-ary quasigroups exist for all n > 2; see Akivis and Goldberg (2001) for details.