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In mathematics, a product is the result of multiplying, or an expression that identifies factors to be multiplied. The order in which real or complex numbers are multiplied has no bearing on the product; this is known as the commutative law of multiplication. When matrices or members of various other associative algebras are multiplied the product usually depends on the order of the factors; in other words, matrix multiplication, and the multiplications in those other algebras, are non-commutative.Several products are considered in mathematics:
- Products of the various classes of numbers
- The dot product and cross product are forms of multiplication of vectors.
- The product of matrices; see matrix multiplication.
- The pointwise product of two functions.
- Products in rings and fieldIn abstract algebra, a field is an algebraic structure in which the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division (except division by zero) may be performed and the associative, commutative, and distributive rules hold, which are famils of many kinds.
- It is often possible to form the product of two (or more) mathematical objects to form another object of the same kind, e.g.
- the cartesian product of setsIn mathematics, the Cartesian product (or direct product X × Y of two sets X and Y is the set of all ordered pairs whose first component is a member of X and whose second component is a member of Y''. This concept is named after Rene Descartes. X × Y { x,
- the product of groupsIn mathematics, given a group G and two subgroups H and K of G one can define the product of H and K denoted by HK as the set of all elements of the form hk for all h in H and k in K''. In general HK is not a subgroup hkh'k' is not of the form hk ; it is,
- the product of ringsIn abstract algebra, it is possible to combine several rings into one large product ring . This is done as follows: if I is some index set and R is a ring for every i in I then the cartesian product Π R can be turned into a ring by defining the operati,
- the product of topological spacesIn topology, the cartesian product of topological spaces is turned into a topological space in the following way. Let I be a (possibly infinite) index set and suppose X is a topological space for every i in I''. Set X Π X the cartesian product of the s,
- for the general treatment, see product (category theory)In category theory, one defines products to generalize constructions such as the cartesian product of sets, the product of groups, the product of rings and the product of topological spaces. Essentially, the product of a family of objects is the "most gen.
Mathematics