Notation – What Does the ? Symbol Mean?

notation

This is one of those cases where I would google if I could, but I don't know what to search for.

I've come across this symbol a few times, but I have no clue what it means or what it is called.

$$\prod$$

Furthermore, what are the $\coprod$ and $\amalg$ symbols for?

I could not list all the places I found it, but the one that sparked it was a discussion on solving the Diophantine equation, $\frac{1}{x} + \frac{1}{y} = \frac{1}{n}$.

Best Answer

The symbol $\Pi$ is the pi-product. It is like the summation symbol $\sum$ but rather than addition its operation is multiplication. For example, $$ \prod_{i=1}^5i=1\cdot2\cdot3\cdot4\cdot5=120 $$ The other symbol is the coproduct.

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