Multiplication of Long Integers - Faster than Long Multiplication

Abstract

In this chapter the authors present an algorithm for fast multiplication that is much more efficient than the standard grade-school method, especially if one wants to multiply large numbers consisting of many digits. The authors present and analyze the efficiency of Karatsuba’s method – named after its inventor, he came up with the idea in the 1960s. The method exploits recursion, a fundamental technique in computer science, and it also involves the trick of dividing the problem into three subproblems of half the size.

Now at Google Zurich, Switzerland.