
What property of multiplication allows this technique? [video] - mimixco
https://digg.com/video/math-whiz-explains-how-russians-do-multiplication-and-it-might-change-the-way-you-calculate-things
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ColinWright
Are you genuinely asking? Or is that your title for the video?

In case you are genuinely asking, here's a link[0] to a post I wrote a while
ago proving that it works, and generalising to powers of numbers (critical for
cryptography) and powers of matrices.

I've submitted it as a separate post[1].

[0]
[http://www.solipsys.co.uk/new/RussianPeasantMultiplication.h...](http://www.solipsys.co.uk/new/RussianPeasantMultiplication.html?tb07hn)

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22266138](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22266138)

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mimixco
Thank you. It seems that it isn't really a property of multiplication per se
but simply an algorithm for solving multiplication equations.

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ColinWright
I don't really know what you're asking, and without knowing anything more
about you and your background, it's not possible to tailor an explanation.

There are various properties required of the things you're working on, and of
the calculation you want to perform, but those properties aren't limited to
multiplication. Having said that, not everything has the necessary properties,
so as I say, I'm not sure what you're asking.

