How is multiplication accurately described?

Multiplication is accurately described as increasing numbers through repeated addition. This concept is foundational in mathematics, where multiplication can be understood as adding a number to itself a specified number of times. For instance, if you multiply 4 by 3, this can be interpreted as adding 4 together three times: 4 + 4 + 4, which equals 12. This understanding helps illustrate how multiplication serves as a shorthand method for performing repeated addition efficiently.

In contrast, the other choices focus on incorrect operations. Increasing through subtraction would imply taking away from a number, which does not align with the operation of multiplication. Decreasing numbers through addition suggests that adding values leads to a reduction, which is mathematically inaccurate. Lastly, adding numbers once would only yield the sum of the two numbers and does not capture the essence of multiplying a number by an integer, which involves more than a single instance of addition. Thus, the concept of multiplication as repeated addition is the most accurate description.