In Mathematics, a Product Is What Multiplication Gives You
A product is something made or sold. In arithmetic it has a precise meaning: the result of multiplying.
A product is something made for sale. Mathematics uses the word narrowly and usefully: the product of two numbers is what you get by multiplying them, just as the sum is what you get by adding. Calling any result a sum, as people often do, blurs a distinction worth keeping.
- Something made or sold. *A new product.*
- A result of a process. *A product of its time.*
- The result of multiplication. *The product of 6 and 7.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | product | A finished product. |
| Plural | products | Consumer products. |
| Verb | produce | Produce goods. |
| Noun | production | Mass production. |
| Adjective | productive | A productive meeting. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The product launches in March.Commerce.
- He is a product of the system he criticises.Result of a process.
- Find the product of the two numbers.Arithmetic.
The four arithmetic results
- Sum — the result of addition
- Difference — the result of subtraction
- Product — the result of multiplication
- Quotient — the result of division
- Remainder — what is left after division
From Latin *productum*, something brought forth, from *producere*, to lead forward. The mathematical sense entered English in the sixteenth century.
Product or produce?
Product is any manufactured item. Produce, stressed on the first syllable, means agricultural goods.
Sum or product?
A sum comes from adding, a product from multiplying. Using sum for any calculation is common in speech but loose in writing.