Oracle reduces license prices for multi core servers

Multicore processors pack more than one processing unit, or core, on a piece of silicon. The technique boosts performance of a machine, while keeping the heat generation down, although two cores do not double the performance.
 

In Oracle's new licensing plan, customers need to take the number of cores used in a server processor and multiply that by 0.75 and then round up to a whole number. For example, a multicore chip with 11 cores will be counted as 9 processors. (11 times 0.75 equals 8.25, which is rounded up to 9.)

We also see that this article shows he complex 6th-grade math required to determine license fees:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/15/oracle_core_pricing/

"For example, a 4-way, dual core processor server which previously had a list license fee of $320,000 (4*2 [cores] *$40,000) would now have a list license fee of $240,000 (0.75 * 8 [cores] *$40,000)."

And it gets even more complicated! A sharp Register reader forwards this advisory from Oracle's finer print:

"A multicore chip with 11 cores would require a 9 processor license (11 multiplied by a factor of .75 equals 8.25 which is then rounded up to the next whole number which is 9)."