Multiplication
Multiplication (often denoted by the cross symbol × , by the mid-line dot operator ⋅ , by juxtaposition , or, on computers, by an asterisk * ) is one of the four elementary mathematical operations of arithmetic , with the others being addition , subtraction and division . The result of a multiplication operation is called the product . The multiplication of whole numbers may be thought as a repeated addition ; that is, the multiplication of two numbers is equivalent to adding as many copies of one of them, the multiplicand , as the value of the other one, the multiplier . Both numbers can be called factors . a × b = (b+...+b)/a For example, 4 multiplied by 3 (often written as and spoken as "3 times 4") can be calculated by adding 3 copies of 4 together: Here 3 and 4 are the factors and 12 is the product .