In addition to the standard long multiplication, there are several other methods used to perform multiplication by hand. Such algorithms may be devised for speed, ease of calculation, or educational value, particularly when computers or
multiplication tables are unavailable.
Grid method The
grid method (or box method) is an introductory method for multiple-digit multiplication that is often taught to pupils at
primary school or
elementary school. It has been a standard part of the national primary school mathematics curriculum in England and Wales since the late 1990s. Both factors are broken up ("partitioned") into their hundreds, tens and units parts, and the products of the parts are then calculated explicitly in a relatively simple multiplication-only stage, before these contributions are then totalled to give the final answer in a separate addition stage. The calculation 34 × 13, for example, could be computed using the grid: 300 40 90 + 12 ———— 442 followed by addition to obtain 442, either in a single sum (see right), or through forming the row-by-row totals : (300 + 40) + (90 + 12) = 340 + 102 = 442. This calculation approach (though not necessarily with the explicit grid arrangement) is also known as the
partial products algorithm. Its essence is the calculation of the simple multiplications separately, with all addition being left to the final gathering-up stage. The grid method can in principle be applied to factors of any size, although the number of sub-products becomes cumbersome as the number of digits increases. Nevertheless, it is seen as a usefully explicit method to introduce the idea of multiple-digit multiplications; and, in an age when most multiplication calculations are done using a
calculator or a
spreadsheet, it may in practice be the only multiplication algorithm that some students will ever need.
Lattice multiplication Lattice, or sieve, multiplication is algorithmically equivalent to long multiplication. It requires the preparation of a lattice (a grid drawn on paper) which guides the calculation and separates all the multiplications from the
additions. It was introduced to Europe in 1202 in
Fibonacci's
Liber Abaci. Fibonacci described the operation as mental, using his right and left hands to carry the intermediate calculations.
Matrakçı Nasuh presented 6 different variants of this method in this 16th-century book, Umdet-ul Hisab. It was widely used in
Enderun schools across the Ottoman Empire.
Napier's bones, or
Napier's rods also used this method, as published by Napier in 1617, the year of his death. As shown in the example, the multiplicand and multiplier are written above and to the right of a lattice, or a sieve. It is found in
Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi's "Arithmetic", one of Leonardo's sources mentioned by Sigler, author of "Fibonacci's Liber Abaci", 2002. • During the multiplication phase, the lattice is filled in with two-digit products of the corresponding digits labeling each row and column: the tens digit goes in the top-left corner. • During the addition phase, the lattice is summed on the diagonals. • Finally, if a carry phase is necessary, the answer as shown along the left and bottom sides of the lattice is converted to normal form by carrying ten's digits as in long addition or multiplication.
Example The pictures on the right show how to calculate 345 × 12 using lattice multiplication. As a more complicated example, consider the picture below displaying the computation of 23,958,233 multiplied by 5,830 (multiplier); the result is 139,676,498,390. Notice 23,958,233 is along the top of the lattice and 5,830 is along the right side. The products fill the lattice and the sum of those products (on the diagonal) are along the left and bottom sides. Then those sums are totaled as shown.
Russian peasant multiplication The binary method is also known as peasant multiplication, because it has been widely used by people who are classified as peasants and thus have not memorized the
multiplication tables required for long multiplication. The algorithm was in use in ancient Egypt. Its main advantages are that it can be taught quickly, requires no memorization, and can be performed using tokens, such as
poker chips, if paper and pencil aren't available. The disadvantage is that it takes more steps than long multiplication, so it can be unwieldy for large numbers.
Description One column contains the numbers that result from repeatedly halving the multiplier while ignoring the remainder. Another column beside it contains the results of repeatedly doubling the multiplicand. The product is evaluated by crossing out each row where the first number ends in an even digit, then summing up the remaining numbers in the second column in order to obtain the product.
Examples This example uses peasant multiplication to multiply 11 by 3 to arrive at a result of 33. Decimal: Binary: 11 3 1011 11 5 6 101 110 2 12 10 1100 1 24 1 11000 —— —————— 33 100001 Describing the steps explicitly: • 11 and 3 are written at the top • 11 is halved (5.5) and 3 is doubled (6). The fractional portion is discarded (5.5 becomes 5). • 5 is halved (2.5) and 6 is doubled (12). The fractional portion is discarded (2.5 becomes 2). The figure in the left column (2) is
even, so the figure in the right column (12) is discarded. • 2 is halved (1) and 12 is doubled (24). • All not-scratched-out values are summed: 3 + 6 + 24 = 33. The method works because multiplication is
distributive, so: : \begin{align} 3 \times 11 & = 3 \times (1\times 2^0 + 1\times 2^1 + 0\times 2^2 + 1\times 2^3) \\ & = 3 \times (1 + 2 + 8) \\ & = 3 + 6 + 24 \\ & = 33. \end{align} A more complicated example, using the figures from the earlier examples (23,958,233 and 5,830): Decimal: Binary: 5830 23958233 1011011000110 1011011011001001011011001 2915 47916466 101101100011 10110110110010010110110010 1457 95832932 10110110001 101101101100100101101100100 728 191665864 1011011000 1011011011001001011011001000 364 383331728 101101100 10110110110010010110110010000 182 766663456 10110110 101101101100100101101100100000 91 1533326912 1011011 1011011011001001011011001000000 45 3066653824 101101 10110110110010010110110010000000 22 6133307648 10110 101101101100100101101100100000000 11 12266615296 1011 1011011011001001011011001000000000 5 24533230592 101 10110110110010010110110010000000000 2 49066461184 10 101101101100100101101100100000000000 1 98132922368 1 1011011011001001011011001000000000000 ———————————— 1022143253354344244353353243222210110 (before carry) 139676498390 10000010000101010111100011100111010110
Quarter square multiplication This formula can in some cases be used, to make multiplication tasks easier to complete: : \frac{\left(x+y\right)^2}{4} - \frac{\left(x-y\right)^2}{4} = \left(\frac{x+y}{2}\right)^2 - \left(\frac{x-y}{2}\right)^2 = xy In the case where x and y are integers, we have that : (x+y)^2 \equiv (x-y)^2 \bmod 4 because x+y and x-y are either both even or both odd. This means that :\begin{align} xy &= \frac14(x+y)^2 - \frac14(x-y)^2 \\ &= \left((x+y)^2 \text{ div } 4\right)- \left((x-y)^2 \text{ div } 4\right) \end{align} and it's sufficient to (pre-)compute the integral part of squares divided by 4 like in the following example.
Examples Below is a lookup table of quarter squares with the remainder discarded for the digits 0 through 18; this allows for the multiplication of numbers up to . For example, when multiplying 9 by 3, evaluating the sum and difference of those numbers yield 12 and 6 respectively. Looking both those values up on the table yields 36 and 9, the difference of which is 27, which is the product of 9 and 3.
History of quarter square multiplication In prehistoric time, quarter square multiplication involved
floor function; that some sources attribute to
Babylonian mathematics (2000–1600 BC). Antoine Voisin published a table of quarter squares from 1 to 1000 in 1817 as an aid in multiplication. A larger table of quarter squares from 1 to 100000 was published by Samuel Laundy in 1856, and a table from 1 to 200000 by Joseph Blater in 1888. Quarter square multipliers were used in
analog computers to form an
analog signal that was the product of two analog input signals. In this application, the sum and difference of two input
voltages are formed using
operational amplifiers. The square of each of these is approximated using
piecewise linear circuits. Finally the difference of the two squares is formed and scaled by a factor of one fourth using yet another operational amplifier. In 1980, Everett L. Johnson proposed using the quarter square method in a
digital multiplier. To form the product of two 8-bit integers, for example, the digital device forms the sum and difference, looks both quantities up in a table of squares, takes the difference of the results, and divides by four by shifting two bits to the right. For 8-bit integers the table of quarter squares will have 29−1=511 entries (one entry for the full range 0..510 of possible sums, the differences using only the first 256 entries in range 0..255) or 29−1=511 entries (using for negative differences the technique of 2-complements and 9-bit masking, which avoids testing the sign of differences), each entry being 16-bit wide (the entry values are from (0²/4)=0 to (510²/4)=65025). The quarter square multiplier technique has benefited 8-bit systems that do not have any support for a hardware multiplier. Charles Putney implemented this for the
6502. ==Computational complexity of multiplication==