In mathematics, an empty sum, or nullary sum, is a summation where the number of terms is zero.
The natural way to extend non-empty sums is to let the empty sum be the additive identity.
Examples
Empty linear combinations In linear algebra, a basis of a vector space V is a linearly independent subset B such that every element of V is a linear combination of B. The empty sum convention allows the zero-dimensional vector space V={0} to have a basis, namely the empty set. ==See also==