a calculation from input values such as add subtract multiply and divide
Operation (mathematics) In mathematics, an operation is a calculation from zero or more input values (called operands) to an output value. The number of operands is the arity of the operation. The most commonly studied operations are binary operations of arity 2, such as addition and multiplication, and unary operations of arity 1, such as additive inverse and multiplicative inverse. An operation of arity zero, or 0-ary operation is a constant. The mixed product is an example of an operation of arity 3, or ternary operation. Generally, the arity is supposed to be finite, but infinitary operations are sometimes considered. In this context, the usual operations, of finite arity are also called finitary operations.