I wrote almost nothing but assembly for ten years (mid 80s to mid 90s) and I think I can count on one hand the number of times I actually needed a generalized m

I wrote almost nothing but assembly for ten years (mid 80s to mid 90s) and I think I can count on one hand the number of times I actually needed a generalized multiplication/division instruction. Heck, even square root could be done with repeated subtraction which could be Good Enough(TM), or maybe a lookup table.