Term (original) (raw)

In elementary mathematics, a term is either a single number/variable, or the product of several numbers and/or variables. For example, in

3+4x+5yzw

3, 4x, and 5yzw are all terms. This definition does not cover all usages in more advanced mathematics. Often term is used of a monomial with a coefficient: to 'collect like terms' in a polynomial is the basic operation of making it a linear combination of distinct monomials.

See also: mathematics, meaning, factor, expression, arithmetics

In traditional logic, term came to mean a referring expression, but only through the Latin terminus (so that terms were 'terminal for analysis'). In type theory, term is used for the linguistic constructs.

In language, term is a certain kind of word like jargon, slang.