nonidentity

plural nonidentities · alternative non-identity

1. Difference, distinction; failure to be identical.

   No scientific examiner would select only chance variations to establish nonidentity of two specimens when the fundamental points of identification stamp them as originating at a single source.

   1993, Ordway Hilton, Scientific Examination of Questioned Documents, →ISBN, page 395

2. mathematicsAn operator which modifies its operand, and which therefore is not the identity.

   Moreover, in a group of prime order p, every non-identity element (i.e. every element other than 1) has period p.

   1995, Thomas A. Whitelaw, Introduction to Abstract Algebra, →ISBN, page 99