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Factor vs Cause - What's the difference?

factor | cause |

In obsolete terms the difference between factor and cause

is that factor is a doer, maker; a person who does things for another person or organization while cause is any subject of discussion or debate; a matter; an affair.

factor

English

(wikipedia factor)

Alternative forms

* factour (archaic)

Noun

(en noun)
  • (obsolete) A doer, maker; a person who does things for another person or organization.
  • An agent or representative.
  • * (Christopher Marlowe)
  • My factor sends me word, a merchant's fled / That owes me for a hundred tun of wine.
  • *, II.21:
  • *:And let such as will number the Kings of Castile and Portugall amongst the warlike and magnanimous conquerors, seeke for some other adherent then my selfe, forsomuch as twelve hundred leagues from their idle residence they have made themselves masters of both Indias, onely by the conduct and direction of their factors , of whom it would be knowne whether they durst but goe and enjoy them in person.
  • * 1644 , (John Milton), (Aeropagitica) :
  • What does he therefore, but resolvs to give over toyling, and to find himself out som factor , to whose care and credit he may commit the whole managing of his religious affairs; som Divine of note and estimation that must be.
  • (legal)
  • # A commission agent.
  • # A person or business organization that provides money for another's new business venture; one who finances another's business.
  • # A business organization that lends money on accounts receivable or buys and collects accounts receivable.
  • One of the elements, circumstances, or influences which contribute to produce a result.
  • * (Herbert Spencer)
  • the material and dynamical factors of nutrition
  • (mathematics) Any of various objects multiplied together to form some whole.
  • * 1956 , , (The City and the Stars) , p.38:
  • The first thousand primesthe complete sequence of all those numbers that possessed no factors except themselves and unity.
  • (root cause analysis) Influence; a phenomenon that affects the nature, the magnitude, and/or the timing of a consequence.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= Charles T. Ambrose
  • , title= Alzheimer’s Disease , volume=101, issue=3, page=200, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems— […]. Such a slow-release device containing angiogenic factors could be placed on the pia mater covering the cerebral cortex and tested in persons with senile dementia in long term studies.}}
  • (economics) A resource used in the production of goods or services, a factor of production.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=68, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= T time , passage=The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them
  • (Scotland) A steward or bailiff of an estate.
  • (Sir Walter Scott)

    Derived terms

    * corn-factor * factorial * factor market * factor of production * factorize * factorization * form factor * pull factor * push factor

    See also

    * addition, summation: (augend) + (addend) = (summand) + (summand) = (sum, total) * subtraction: (minuend) ? (subtrahend) = (difference) * multiplication: (multiplier) × (multiplicand) = (factor) × (factor) = (product) * division: (dividend) ÷ (divisor) = (quotient), remainder left over if divisor does not divide dividend

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To find all the factors of (a number or other mathematical object) (the objects that divide it evenly).
  • (of a number or other mathematical object) To be a product of other objects.
  • Derived terms

    * factor in * factor out * refactor

    See also

    * addition, summation: (augend) + (addend) = (summand) × (summand) = (sum, total) * subtraction: (minuend) ? (subtrahend) = (difference) * multiplication: (multiplier) × (multiplicand) = (factor) × (factor) = (product) * division: (dividend) ÷ (divisor) = (quotient), remainder left over if divisor does not divide dividend

    cause

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The source of, or reason for, an event or action; that which produces or effects a result.
  • Her wedding will be cause for celebration.
    They identified a burst pipe as the cause of the flooding.
  • * , chapter=5
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=He was thinking; but the glory of the song, the swell from the great organ, the clustered lights, […], the height and vastness of this noble fane, its antiquity and its strength—all these things seemed to have their part as causes of the thrilling emotion that accompanied his thoughts.}}
  • A goal, aim or principle, especially one which transcends purely selfish ends.
  • * Shakespeare
  • God befriend us, as our cause is just.
  • * Burke
  • The part they take against me is from zeal to the cause .
  • (obsolete) Sake; interest; advantage.
  • * Bible, 2 Corinthians vii. 12
  • I did it not for his cause .
  • (obsolete) Any subject of discussion or debate; a matter; an affair.
  • * Shakespeare
  • What counsel give you in this weighty cause ?
  • (legal) A suit or action in court; any legal process by which a party endeavors to obtain his claim, or what he regards as his right; case; ground of action.
  • Synonyms

    * (source or reason) reason, source

    Derived terms

    * because * causal * causality * causative * cause celebre * efficient cause * final cause * for cause (law) * formal cause * material cause

    See also

    * effect

    Verb

    (caus)
  • To set off an event or action.
  • *
  • Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes.She put back a truant curl from her forehead where it had sought egress to the world, and looked him full in the face now, drawing a deep breath which caused the round of her bosom to lift the lace at her throat.
  • * {{quote-magazine, title=A better waterworks, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838
  • , page=5 (Technology Quarterly), magazine=(The Economist) citation , passage=An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic
  • To actively produce as a result, by means of force or authority.
  • * Bible, (w) vii.4
  • I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days.
  • * , chapter=13
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes. He said that if you wanted to do anything for them, you must rule them, not pamper them. Soft heartedness caused more harm than good.}}
  • To assign or show cause; to give a reason; to make excuse.
  • (Spenser)

    Derived terms

    * causation

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * English control verbs ----