Factor and Multiple

noun

• Anything that contributes causally to a result.
  • usage: "a number of factors determined the outcome"
• An abstract part of something.
  • usage: "jealousy was a component of his character"; "two constituents of a musical composition are melody and harmony"; "the grammatical elements of a sentence"; "a key factor in her success"; "humor: an effective ingredient of a speech"
  • synonyms: component, constituent, element, ingredient
• One of two or more integers that can be exactly divided into another integer.
  • usage: "what are the 4 factors of 6"
  • synonyms: divisor
• A businessman who buys or sells for another in exchange for a commission.
  • synonyms: agent, broker
• Any of the numbers (or symbols) that form a product when multiplied together.
• An independent variable in statistics.
• Genetics) a segment of DNA that is involved in producing a polypeptide chain; it can include regions preceding and following the coding DNA as well as introns between the exons; it is considered a unit of heredity. (
  • usage: "genes were formerly called factors"
  • synonyms: gene, cistron

verb

• Resolve into factors.
  • usage: "a quantum computer can factor the number 15"
  • synonyms: factor in, factor out
• Be a contributing factor.
  • usage: "make things factor into a company's profitability"
• Consider as relevant when making a decision.
  • usage: "You must factor in the recent developments"
  • synonyms: factor in, factor out

• (n.) One who transacts business for another; an agent; a substitute; especially, a mercantile agent who buys and sells goods and transacts business for others in commission; a commission merchant or consignee. He may be a home factor or a foreign factor. He may buy and sell in his own name, and he is intrusted with the possession and control of the goods; and in these respects he differs from a broker.
• (n.) A steward or bailiff of an estate.
• (n.) One of the elements, circumstances or influences which contribute to produce a result; a constituent.
• (v.t.) To resolve (a quantity) into its factors.
• (n.) One of the elements or quantities which, when multiplied together, from a product.

1. The percent of the original face of an MBS pool that remains outstanding at any given time is called the current' factor'. Principal payments, made by the borrowers, reduce the original face every month. Thus there is a new current factor each month. The current face is always equal to the product of the original face times the current factor. 2. An individual or firm that purchases accounts receivable from firms in need of working capital. Usually, a specialized financial firm engaged exclusively or almost exclusively in factoring.

noun

• The product of a quantity by an integer.
  • usage: "36 is a multiple of 9"

adjective

• Having or involving or consisting of more than one part or entity or individual.
  • usage: "multiple birth"; "multiple ownership"; "made multiple copies of the speech"; "his multiple achievements in public life"; "her multiple personalities"; "a pineapple is a multiple fruit"

• (n.) A quantity containing another quantity a number of times without a remainder.
• (a.) Containing more than once or more than one; consisting of more than one; manifold; repeated many times; having several or many, parts.

Multiple is a stock's multiple is its price-to-earnings ratio (P/E). It's figured by dividing the market price of the stock by its earnings-either the actual earnings for the past four quarters (called a trailing P/E) or actual figures for the past two quarters plus an analyst's projection for the next two (called a forward P/E). Investors use the multiple as a way to assess whether the price they are paying for the stock is justified by its earnings potential. The higher the multiple they are willing to accept, the higher their expectations for the stock. What's considered high, however, has changed dramatically in recent years as Internet stocks with low earnings (and very high multiples) or no earnings (and therefore no way to compute a multiple) have commanded high prices.