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A pair of mathematicians from Australia and France have devised an alternative way to multiply numbers together, while solving an algorithmic puzzle that has perplexed some of the greatest math minds for almost half a century. For most of us, the way we multiply relatively small numbers is by remembering our times tables – an incredibly handy aid first pioneered by the Babylonians some 4,000 years ago. But what if the numbers get bigger? Well, if the figures get unwieldy – and assuming we don't have a calculator or computer, of course – most of us would then turn to...

Because the method you learned in middle school is ridiculously slow. Multiplying large numbers is hard. In 1971, two German professors predicted an algorithm that would make it easier, but no one ever proved it. Until now. Mathematicians from Australia and France say their algorithm can make multiplication and other kinds of arithmetic much more efficient. ================================================================ From grade school onward, complex multiplication has been a headache. But an assistant professor from the University of New South Wales Sydney in Australia has developed a new method for multiplying giant numbers together that's more efficient than the "long multiplication" so many...

Multiplication table from 1,800 years ago found in Hunan Archeologists claimed that they had found a multiplication table at the Gurendi cultural relics ofthe Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220) in Zhangjiajie, central China's Hunan Province. Archeologists claimed that they had found a multiplication table at the Gurendi cultural relics ofthe Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220) in Zhangjiajie, central China's Hunan Province. The table was discovered on a 22cm-long wooden strip which was broken when it was discovered and the handwriting on it is quite illegible. "We can see that the multiplication table begins at nine times nine equals 81, in a sequence...

A Quarter Ounce a Day George McMahon of Tyler is one of seven people in the United States currently granted federal permission to use marijuana for medicinal purposes, under the "Compassionate Investigational New Drug" (IND) program of the Federal Drug Administration. At age 52, McMahon has outlived the typical life span of most people diagnosed with the disease from which he suffers -- Nail Patella Syndrome. NPS is a hereditary neurological disorder that attacks internal organs and the immune system and is usually characterized by some deformity of fingernails -- hence the common name. Eight percent of those with NPS...