Increasing in number or amount through arithmetic calculation or natural reproduction. The process of repeated addition or rapid growth.
From Latin 'multiplicare', from 'multiplex' (having many folds). The mathematical sense came first, with the biological and general increase meanings developing later.
The multiplication symbol × was introduced by William Oughtred in 1631, chosen because it resembles the letter X. Fascinatingly, multiplication is just repeated addition, but our brains process it so differently that multiplication tables become almost musical patterns in memory.
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