4 ms·

What property of multiplication allows this technique? [video]

• ColinWright 7y ago
  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.html?tb07hn http://www.solipsys.co.uk/new/RussianPeasantMultiplication.h... [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22266138 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22266138
  • mimixco 7y ago
    Thank you. It seems that it isn't really a property of multiplication per se but simply an algorithm for solving multiplication equations.
    • ColinWright 7y ago
      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.