Uniqueness of inverses
Each element of a group has a unique two-sided inverse
Uniqueness of inverses
Proposition (Uniqueness of inverses). Let be a group . For , an element is an inverse of if and , where is the identity element of . If and are both inverses of , then .
Context. This justifies writing for the inverse of .
Proof sketch. Using associativity and the defining equations,
(Here denotes the identity in .)