Either way, we have to multiply A × C, A × D, B × C and B × D. These four small multiplications appear to set a limit for how efficient multiplication can be. But in 1960, the Russian mathematician ...

When this reporter, ahem, asked for a friendly reminder (wink-wink) about the math concept, Sykora explained the distributive property of multiplication. “For example, if you have 12 times 3 ...