Noun
multiplication sign (plural multiplication signs)
(mathematics) Any symbol (in particular ×, * or ·) used to denote the operation of multiplication.
In fonts containing both x (the letter) and × (the multiplication sign), the two glyphs are dissimilar. Source: Internet
This is due to the fact that most computers historically were limited to small character sets (such as ASCII and EBCDIC ) that lacked a multiplication sign (such as • or × ), while the asterisk appeared on every keyboard. Source: Internet