# multiplication

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### The terms in multiplication

PrimeFan used in http://planetmath.org/encyclopedia/Multiplication.html the term "multiplicand" to mean any of the numbers which are multiplied among themselves in a product. Is this the general usage in English? In most European languages, they are "factors" of the product; Wolfram (http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Multiplication.html) takes the same view on the thing.

Wolfram says (http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Multiplicand.html) that in the product "a times b", "a" is the "multiplier" and "b" the "multiplicand". But Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiplicand) says quite the contrary.

Is there a definite standard which we should take in PM entries,
concerning the terms "factor", "multiplier", "multiplicand"? Perhaps PrimeFan could define these terms in the entry "multiplication".

Jussi

### Re: The terms in multiplication

I thought the term "multiplicand" was analogous to "operand" and that an "operand" is any of the terms an "operator" works on. And because multiplication is commutative, I don't think there is much use for a distinction; whether we have six rows and seven columns or six columns and seven rows we still have 42 cells. Maybe this is another question for Barbara Wallraff.