different between factorial vs factory

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fæk?t???i.?l/

Noun

factorial (plural factorials)

1. (mathematics, combinatorics) The result of multiplying a given number of consecutive integers from 1 to the given number. In equations, it is symbolized by an exclamation mark (!). For example, 5! = 1 × 2 × 3 × 4 × 5 = 120.

Usage notes

"n!" is read as "factorial of n" or "n factorial."

Hyponyms

• double factorial
• falling factorial
• rising factorial

Related terms

Translations

Adjective

factorial (comparative more factorial, superlative most factorial)

1. (mathematics) Of or pertaining to a factor or factorial.
2. Of or pertaining to a factor, a kind of business agent.
   • 2004, The Digest: Annotated British, Commonwealth, and European Cases

     The latter sold the goods to a customer who was cashier to certain creditors of the agents without disclosing the factorial capacity in which they acted.

3. (dated) Of or pertaining to a factory.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Buchanan to this entry?)

See also

• primorial

References

• factorial on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Further reading

• factorial in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• factorial in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Portuguese

Noun

factorial m (plural factoriais)

1. Superseded spelling of fatorial. (superseded in Brazil by the 1943 spelling reform and by the Orthographic Agreement of 1990 elsewhere. Still used in countries where the agreement hasn’t come into effect and as an alternative spelling in Portugal.)

Adjective

factorial m or f (plural factoriais, comparable)

1. Superseded spelling of fatorial. (superseded in Brazil by the 1943 spelling reform and by the Orthographic Agreement of 1990 elsewhere. Still used in countries where the agreement hasn’t come into effect and as an alternative spelling in Portugal.)

Romanian

Etymology

From French factorielle

Adjective

factorial m or n (feminine singular factorial?, masculine plural factoriali, feminine and neuter plural factoriale)

1. factorial

Declension

Spanish

Noun

factorial m (plural factoriales)

1. (mathematics) factorial

English

Etymology

From factor +? -y. Compare Middle French factorie; Italian fattoria, Spanish factoría, Portuguese feitoria, Dutch factorij.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /?fækt??i/, /?fækt?i/
• (UK)

Noun

factory (plural factories)

1. (chiefly Scotland, now rare) The position or state of being a factor. [from 16th c.]
2. (now historical) A trading establishment, especially set up by merchants working in a foreign country. [from 16th c.]
   • 1792, James Boswell, in Danziger & Brady (eds.), Boswell: The Great Biographer (Journals 1789–1795), Yale 1989, p. 184:

     We had here his curate, Mr. Furley, who had been nine years chaplain to the English factory at St. Petersburg […] .

3. A building or other place where manufacturing takes place. [from 17th c.]

   Synonym: manufactory

4. (Britain, slang) A police station. [from 19th c.]
   • 2010, Harry Keeble, Kris Hollington, Crack House

     The guys all knew each other and we were having a jolly old chinwag as we marched them out of the house in front of their stunned neighbours and into a van we had called to take them all to the Factory (police station).

5. A device which produces or manufactures something.
6. A factory farm.

   chicken factory; pig factory

7. (programming) In a computer program or library, a function, method, etc. which creates an object.
   • 2010, Sayed Ibrahim Hashimi, William Bartholomew, Inside the Microsoft Build Engine

     The task factory […] is the object that is responsible for creating instances of those tasks dynamically.

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

• Tok Pisin: faktori
• Welsh: ffatri

Translations

Further reading

• factory in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• factory in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Adjective

factory (not comparable)

1. (colloquial, of a configuration, part, etc.) Having come from the factory in the state it is currently in; original, stock.