In mathematics, an algebraic structure similar to a group but without requiring all elements to have defined operations with each other.
From 'group' plus '-oid' (suffix meaning resembling or having the form of, from Greek 'eidos'). Created in 20th-century mathematics to name a relaxed version of group theory.
Groupoids might sound abstract, but they're used in quantum physics and topology to describe systems where not everything interacts with everything else—like modeling how different particles relate in certain quantum states.
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