Final answer:
The term that denotes the critical buckling load of a column divided by its cross-sectional area is the Compression ratio. It is a dimensionless value indicating the load-bearing capacity per unit area.
Step-by-step explanation:
The term that refers to the critical buckling load for a column divided by the area of its cross-section is known as the Compression ratio. This term is not the elastic modulus, buckling factor, or slenderness ratio. The elastic modulus, or Young's modulus, is a factor that depends on the substance and is a proportionality constant in stress-strain relationships, which indicates tensile stiffness or strength. However, it is not used to describe the buckling load per area of a column. The Compression ratio, in the context of buckling analysis, is a dimensionless value that provides a measure of the load-bearing capacity of a column per unit area before it would fail due to buckling.