Definition:Addition/Summand

Definition
Let $a + b$ denote the operation of addition on two objects.

The objects $a$ and $b$ are known as the summands of $a + b$.

Note that the nature of $a$ and $b$ has deliberately been left unspecified.

They could be, for example, numbers, matrices or more complex expressions constructed from such elements.

Alternative Names
The word term is frequently used for summand, but term has other meanings.

If it is important to avoid ambiguity then it is recommended that summand is used.

Linguistic Note
The extension -and derives from the Latin gerundive form which imparts the meaning that which must be ... to a word.

Thus the word summand literally means: that which must be summed.

Also see

 * Use of this concept in the context of sum notation.