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.

Also known as
The word addend appears to mean the same thing as summand, such that the two words may be used interchangeably.

The word term is frequently seen for summand, but term also has other meanings.

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

The term augend can sometimes be seen for (specifically) the first of a pair of summands, so in the context of $a + b = c$:
 * $a$ is the augend
 * $b$ is the addend
 * $c$ is the sum.

Also see

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