multiplication formula in vba

It is one of the two "standard" spreadsheet notations. the default spreadsheet notation is A1 notation, that tends to be more popular. Less popular, but still common, is R1C1 notation. (see here https://support.office.com/en-us/art...es_in_formulas for a discussion of the different reference styles).

R1C1 notation can be particular useful in VBA, because the formula text string is the same, no matter what cell you put the formula in (especially for relative references). If you use A1 notation, you would need to have several statements to manipulate A1 notation formulas, but in R1C1 notation, you create the formula string once, then write it in wherever needed.