A group is a set GG together with a binary operation satisfying:

  • closure
  • associativity
  • existence of an identity
  • existence of inverses for every element

If the operation also satisfies ab=baab = ba for all a,ba,b, the group is abelian.

One-line intuition

A group is the smallest algebraic setting in which you can compose, undo, and solve equations reliably.