Terminology
A variety of algebras should not be confused with an algebraic variety,
which means a set of solutions to a system of polynomial equations. The
y are formally quite distinct and their theories have little in common.
The term "variety of algebras" refers to algebras in the general sense of universal algebra;
there is also a more specific sense of algebra, namely as algebra over a field,
i.e. a vector space equipped with a bilinear multiplication.
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