The Coefficients was a monthly dining club founded in 1902 by the Fabian campaigners Sidney and Beatrice Webb as a forum for British socialist reformers and imperialists of the Edwardian era. The name of the dining club was a reflection of the group's focus on "efficiency".

In algebra, the numerical multiplier of a symbol, as in the expression "5x," 5 is the coefficient. In physics, generally a number expressing the ratio or relation between quantities, one of which is often unity, as a standard or base of the set of coefficients. Thus the coefficient of expansion by heat of any substance is obtained by dividing its volume for a given degree of temperature by its volume at the standard temperature as 0º C., or 32º F. This gives a fraction by which if any volume of a substance, taken at 0º C., or at whatever may be taken as the basic temperature, is multiplied, the expanded volume for the given change of temperature will be obtained as the product. A coefficient always in some form implies the idea of a multiplier. Thus the coefficient of an inch referred to a foot would be 1/12 or .833+, because any number of inches multiplied by that fraction would give the corresponding number of feet. [Transcriber's note: 1/12 is 0.0833+]

(coefficients)