Etymology

idempotent

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Today it means: (said of a function) Such that, when performed multiple times on the same subject, it has no further effect on its subject after the first time it is performed. Full definition →

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The story

From Latin roots idem (“same”) + potent (“having power”), thus “having the same power”. Coined in 1870 by American mathematician Benjamin Peirce in the context of algebra, later generalized to computer science.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.