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I know this might be a really simple question for those fluent in English, but I can't find the term that describes numbers that make up a sum.

The numbers of a certain product are called "multiples" of that "product". Then what are the numbers of a certain sum called?

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    I rolled back the edits. The OP doesn't s$p$eak English, so why not leave his original (fully understandable) wording and avoid orphaning a bunch of comments?2012-04-10

4 Answers 4

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According to Wikipedia, "summands", "addends", or "terms" are all acceptable.

Also, I've never heard "multiples" used as the corresponding word for multiplication. Wikipedia lists the words "factors" and "multiplicands" both of which I'm familiar with.

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    To some extent it depends on whether you're thinking about the expression in itself or the process of evaluating the expression. Thus $x$ and $y$ are the terms of the expression $x + y$ and the factors of the expression $xy$, but in a discussion of algorithms for addition or multiplication you might speak of addends or multiplicands.2012-04-10
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To approach the question from another direction: A "multiple" of 7 is a number that is the result of multiplying 7 with something else.

If your try to generalize that to sums, you get something like: A "__" of 7 is a number that is the result of adding 7 to something. But that's everything -- at least as long as we allow negative numbers, and if we don't allow negative numbers, then it just means something that is larger than 7. Neither of these concepts feel useful enough in themselves that it is worth it deciding on a particular noun for it.

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    How about: A "linear combination with a constant term" of 7 is a number that is the result of adding 7 to something?2012-10-05
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"Summands"

$\phantom{\text{(hmm, first time MSE says my answer is too short; P.S., added by mixedmath: either this or adding empty sets is a good way to add to the length ;p)}}$

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    I edited your answer, because I think this was the desired effect you were going for. Right?2012-04-10
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the answer is addend. a number that is added to another. "as its name suggests, the Accumulator ‘accumulates’ by keeping its addend in memory and incrementing by the addend it receives from another transmitting unit"