> Or is it more like you pass the multiply function the first operand (2 in this case) and it returns a function multiply-by-2 which you pass the second operand

> Or is it more like you pass the multiply function the first operand (2 in this case) and it returns a function multiply-by-2 which you pass the second operand This is exactly it. You can literally write: multiply_by_2 = (*) 2