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The oldest known multiplication tables were used by the Babylonians about 4000 years ago. [2] However, they used a base of 60. [2] The oldest known tables using a base of 10 are the Chinese decimal multiplication table on bamboo strips dating to about 305 BC, during China's Warring States period. [2] "Table of Pythagoras" on Napier's bones [3]
Multiplication is a mathematical operation of repeated addition. When two numbers are multiplied, the resulting value is a product. The numbers being multiplied are multiplicands, multipliers, or factors. Multiplication can be expressed as "five times three equals fifteen," "five times three is fifteen," or "fifteen is the product of five and ...
First multiply the quarters by 47, the result 94 is written into the first workspace. Next, multiply cwt 12*47 = (2 + 10)*47 but don't add up the partial results (94, 470) yet. Likewise multiply 23 by 47 yielding (141, 940). The quarters column is totaled and the result placed in the second workspace (a trivial move in this case).
For example, 3 5 = 3 · 3 · 3 · 3 · 3 = 243. The base 3 appears 5 times in the multiplication, because the exponent is 5. Here, 243 is the 5th power of 3, or 3 raised to the 5th power. The word "raised" is usually omitted, and sometimes "power" as well, so 3 5 can be simply read "3 to the 5th", or "3 to the 5".
Multiplication by a positive number preserves the order: For a > 0, if b > c, then ab > ac. Multiplication by a negative number reverses the order: For a < 0, if b > c, then ab < ac. The complex numbers do not have an ordering that is compatible with both addition and multiplication. [30]
Some of the algorithms Trachtenberg developed are ones for general multiplication, division and addition. Also, the Trachtenberg system includes some specialised methods for multiplying small numbers between 5 and 13. The section on addition demonstrates an effective method of checking calculations that can also be applied to multiplication.
It was common into the 18th century to use an abbreviation of the word equals as the symbol for equality; examples included æ and œ , from the Latin aequālis. [9] Diophantus's use of ἴσ , short for ἴσος (ísos 'equals'), in Arithmetica (c. 250 AD) is considered one of the first uses of an equals sign. [10]
Adding two "1" digits produces a digit "0", while 1 must be added to the next column. This is similar to what happens in decimal when certain single-digit numbers are added together; if the result equals or exceeds the value of the radix (10), the digit to the left is incremented: 5 + 5 → 0, carry 1 (since 5 + 5 = 10 = 0 + (1 × 10 1))