bundle

Bundle is a term with several related meanings. As a noun, it denotes a collection of objects tied or wrapped together. As a verb, to bundle means to tie, wrap, or group items, or to combine multiple resources into a single unit. The concept appears across everyday use and in specialized fields.

In packaging and retail, a bundle is a package that includes two or more products sold at a single price. Bundles can add value, promote cross-selling, and help manage inventory. In economics, bundling is a pricing strategy that can be pure (offering only bundles) or mixed (bundles plus standalone items), often aimed at increasing sales or extracting consumer surplus.

In computing, a software bundle collects several components for distribution. Bundlers combine modules or libraries into one package or installer, reducing download requests and simplifying deployment. Web development commonly uses module bundlers to produce a single file from many source modules, improving load performance and dependency management. Bundling also appears in operating-system distributions that ship multiple applications as a single installation package.

In networking, bundle or link aggregation groups multiple physical connections into one logical link to increase throughput and provide redundancy. This use improves fault tolerance and capacity for high-demand networks.

In mathematics, a fiber bundle consists of a total space E, a base space B, a projection map π: E → B, and a typical fiber F, such that locally E resembles B × F. Vector bundles and principal bundles are central examples, playing a key role in differential geometry and topology.