Binary Multiplication

Three approaches:

  1. Repeated addition
  2. Treat as a multi-line addition
  3. Repeated shift and add

One of the earliest "multiplication" calculators was the BONES of John Napier. This was actually a device that converted the process of multiplication into the process of addition by displaying the multiplication tables on replaceable "bones".

Napier spent a large portion of his life trying to solve the problem of "automating" multiplication, designing several different "machines". Explore emulations of his machines.


From the Science Museum, London

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Last updated 2000/05/18
© J.A.N. Lee, 2000.