1.87: Primitive cell
A primitive cell is a unit cell built on the basis vectors of a primitive basis of the direct lattice, namely a crystallographic basis of the vector lattice L such that every lattice vector t of L may be obtained as an integral linear combination of the basis vectors, a , b , c .
It contains only one lattice point and its volume is equal to the triple scalar product ( a , b , c ).
Non-primitive bases are used conventionally to describe centered lattices . In that case, the unit cell is a multiple cell and it contains more than one lattice point. The multiplicity of the cell is given by the ratio of its volume to the volume of a primitive cell.