Multiplication of two numbers is easy, right? At primary school we learn how to do long multiplication like this: Methods similar to this go back thousands of years, at least to the ancient Sumerians ...

Methods similar to this go back thousands of years, at least to the ancient Sumerians and Egyptians. Around 1956, the famous Soviet mathematician Andrey Kolmogorov conjectured that this is the best ...

Try this ancient multiplication trick—halves and doubles, also called Egyptian or Russian math—where you repeatedly halve one ...

Most people know just one way to multiply two large numbers by hand. Typically, they learned it in elementary school. They’re often surprised to find that there are a variety of ways to do ...

This summer, battle lines were drawn over a simple math problem: 8 ÷ 2(2 + 2) = ? If you divide 8 by 2 first, you get 16, but if you multiply 2 by (2 + 2) first, you get 1. So, which answer is right?

Forget your times tables – mathematicians have found a new, faster way to multiply two numbers together. The method, which works only for whole numbers, is a landmark result in computer science. “This ...

It's possible to solve some multiplication problems in your head. But sometimes it can help to use other methods instead. These include using visual aids, such as an array or place counters, or by ...

Multiplication is a fundamental skill in mathematics, but some number combinations can appear tricky. Imagine being able to quickly multiply numbers like 35 x 35 or 65 x 65 in your head, almost ...

Methods similar to this go back thousands of years, at least to the ancient Sumerians and Egyptians. But is this really the best way to multiply two big numbers together? Around 1956, the famous ...