product (mathematics, programming) An expression in mathematics or computer programming consisting of two other expressions multiplied together. In mathematics, multiplication is usually represented by juxtaposition, e.g. "x y", whereas in programming, "*" is used as an infix operator, e.g. "salary * tax_rate.
In the most common type of product, each operand is a number (integer, real number, fraction or imaginary number) but the term extends naturally to cover more complex operations like multiplying a string by an integer (e.g., in Perl, "foo" x 2) or multiplying vectors and matrices or more than two operands. In type systems, a tuple is sometimes known as a "product type". Last updated: 2006-10-12
