factor

n 1: anything that contributes causally to a result; "a number of

factors determined the outcome"

2: an abstract part of something: "jealousy was a component of

his character"; "two constituents of a musical composition

are melody and harmony"; "the grammatical elements of a

sentence"; "a key factor in her success"; "humor: an

effective ingredient of a speech" [syn: {component}, {constituent},

{element}, {ingredient}]

3: any of the numbers (or symbols) that form a product when

multiplied together

4: one of two or more integers that can be exactly divided into

another integer; "what are the 4 factors of 6?" [syn: {divisor}]

5: a businessman who buys or sells for another in exchange for

a commission [syn: {agent}, {broker}]

v : resolve into factors [syn: {factor in}, {factor out}]

functor

In {category theory}, a functor F is an operator on types. F

is also considered to be a {polymorphic} operator on functions

with the type

F : (a -> b) -> (F a -> F b).

Functors are a generalisation of the function "{map}". The

type operator in this case takes a type T and returns type

"list of T". The map function takes a function and applies it

to each element of a list.

(1995-02-07)