Suppose that is a group with subgroups and acting by left and right multiplication, respectively. The -double cosets of may be equivalently described as orbits for the product group acting on by . Many of the basic properties of double cosets follow immediately from the fact that they are orbits. However, because is a group and and are subgroups acting by multiplication, double cosets are more structured than orbits of arbitrary group actions, and they have additional properties that are false for more general actions.