multiplication
noun
mul·ti·pli·ca·tion
ˌməl-tə-plə-ˈkā-shən 
1
: the act or process of multiplying : the state of being multiplied
2
a
: a mathematical operation that at its simplest is an abbreviated process of adding an integer to zero a specified number of times and that is extended to other numbers in accordance with laws that are valid for integers
b
: any of various mathematical operations that are analogous in some way to multiplication of the real numbers but are defined for other or larger sets of elements (such as complex numbers, vectors, matrices, or functions)
Examples of multiplication in a Sentence
Students are learning multiplication and division.
a disease causing uncontrolled multiplication of cells
an uncontrolled multiplication of cells
Recent Examples on the Web
For example, in 2024 Churchill and mathematician Howe Choong Yin developed a Magic programming language that used Magic moves to code elementary calculations such as addition, multiplication or division.
—
Manon Bischoff, Scientific American, 22 Apr. 2025
But that level of precision can come at the cost of large memory footprints (in the hundreds of gigabytes for the largest models) and significant processing resources needed for the complex matrix multiplication used when responding to prompts.
—ArsTechnica, 18 Apr. 2025
The big picture: Everyone in tech is benefiting from AI's magic multiplication powers right now.
—Scott Rosenberg, Axios, 31 Mar. 2025
Given this, there is no straightforward way to understand what a model is doing on an intuitive level, as from our perspective running inference on a model is nothing more than executing trillions of trivial operations such as addition and multiplication.
—Rahul Gudise, Forbes, 7 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for multiplication
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Manon Bischoff, Scientific American, 22 Apr. 2025
But that level of precision can come at the cost of large memory footprints (in the hundreds of gigabytes for the largest models) and significant processing resources needed for the complex matrix multiplication used when responding to prompts.
—ArsTechnica, 18 Apr. 2025
The big picture: Everyone in tech is benefiting from AI's magic multiplication powers right now.
—Scott Rosenberg, Axios, 31 Mar. 2025
Given this, there is no straightforward way to understand what a model is doing on an intuitive level, as from our perspective running inference on a model is nothing more than executing trillions of trivial operations such as addition and multiplication.
—Rahul Gudise, Forbes, 7 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for multiplication
Cite this Entry
“Multiplication.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/multiplication. Accessed 3 May. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
multiplication
noun
mul·ti·pli·ca·tion
ˌməl-tə-plə-ˈkā-shən
1
: the act or process of multiplying
2
: a mathematical operation that takes two numbers and gives an answer equal to the sum of a column containing one of the numbers repeated the number of times of the other number
the multiplication of 8 and 3 is the same as the sum of 8+8+8
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