Addition

The Combining of two or more quantities using the plus operator. The individual numbers being combined are called addends, and the total is called the sum. The first of several addends, or "the one to which the others are added," is sometimes called the augend. The opposite of addition is subtraction. While the usual form of adding two -digit integers (which consists of summing over the columns right to left and "carrying" a 1 to the next column if the sum exceeds 9) requires operations (plus carries), two -digit integers can be added in about steps by processors using carry-lookahead addition (McGeoch 1993). Here, is the lg function, the logarithm to the base 2. Subtraction Subtraction is the operation of taking the difference of two numbers and . Here, called the minuend, is called the subtrahend, and the symbol between the and is called the minus sign. The expression " " is read " minus ." Subtraction is the inverse of addition, so . is

The subtraction of a number from itself gives 0, while the subtraction of a real number from a smaller real number gives a negative real number. Subtraction of real numbers can be naturally extended to complex numbers. Multiplication

In simple algebra, multiplication is the process of calculating the result when a number is taken times. The result of a multiplication is called theproduct of and , and each of the numbers and is called a factor of the product . Multiplication is denoted , , , or simply . The symbol is known as the multiplication sign. Normal multiplication is associative, commutative, and distributive. More generally, multiplication can also be defined for other mathematical objects such as groups, matrices, sets, and tensors. Karatsuba and Ofman (1962) discovered that multiplication of two a bit complexity of less than digit numbers can be done with

using an algorithm now known as Karatsuba multiplication.

Eddy Grant's pop song "Electric Avenue" ( Electric Avenue, 2001) includes the commentary: "Who is to blame in one country; Never can get to the one; Dealin' in multiplication; And they still can't feed everyone, oh no." Division Taking the ratio of two numbers and , also written . Here, is called the dividend, is called the divisor, and is called a quotient. The symbol "/" is called a solidus (sometimes, the "diagonal"), and the symbol " " is called the obelus. If left unevaluated, is called a fraction, with known as the numerator and known as the denominator.

Division in which the fractional (remainder) is discarded is called integer division, and is sometimes denoted using a backslash, . Division is the inverse operation of multiplication, so that if

then

can be recovered as

as long as . In general, division by zero is not defined since the ability to "invert" recover breaks down if (in which case is always 0, independent of ). Cutting or separating an object into two or more parts is also called division. Difference The difference of two numbers x-Axis and is

to

, where the minus sign denotes subtraction.

The -axis is the horizontal axis of a two-dimensional plot in Cartesian coordinates that is conventionally oriented to point to the right (left figure). In three dimensions, the -, -, and usually arranged so as to form a right-handed coordinate system. Physicists and astronomers sometimes call this axis the abscissa, although that term is more commonly used to refer to coordinates along the -axis. y-Axis

are

The vertical axis of a two-dimensional plot in Cartesian coordinates. Physicists and astronomers sometimes call this axis the ordinate, although that term is more commonly used to refer to coordinates along the -axis. z-Axis

The axis in three-dimensional Cartesian coordinates which is usually oriented vertically. Cylindrical coordinates are defined such that the -axis is the axis about which the azimuthal coordinate is measured. Coordinate System A system for specifying points using coordinates measured in some specified way. The simplest coordinate system consists of coordinate axis oriented perpendicularly to each other, known as Cartesian coordinates. Depending on the type of problem under consideration, coordinate systems possessing special properties may allow particularly simple solution.

In three dimensions, so-called right-handed coordinate systems (left figure) are usually chosen by convention, although left-handed coordinate systems (right figure) are also encountered occasionally.