multiple

multiple

1. Electronics US and Canadian (of a circuit) having a number of conductors in parallel

2. Maths the product of a given number or polynomial and any other one

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Multiple

 

A multiple of a natural (positive integral) number a is a natural number that is divisible by a without a remainder. Thus 156 is a multiple of 13, while 108 is not. A number n that is divisible by each of the numbers a, b, . . . ,m is called a common multiple of these numbers. Of all the common multiples of two or more numbers, one (not equal to zero) is the smallest, or least common multiple, and the others will be multiples of this number.

A number of problems in arithmetic reduce to finding the least common multiple of two or more numbers. In order to find the least common multiple of several numbers, we must first find the least common multiple of the first two numbers, then the least common multiple of that number and of the third number, and so on. If we know the greatest common divisior d of two numbers a and b, we may find their least common multiple m using the formula m =ab/d. Numbers that are multiples of 2 are called even, the other numbers being called odd.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

multiple

[′məl·tə·pəl]

(electricity)

Group of terminals arranged to make a circuit or group of circuits accessible at a number of points at any one of which connection can be made.

To connect in parallel.

(computer science)

parallel

(mathematics)

The product of a number or quantity by an integer.

(metallurgy)

A piece of stock cut from bar for use in a forging which provides the exact length needed for a single workpiece.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.