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The Purpose of the Article is to present a topic and examples for Enrichment for Liberal Arts Mathematics at the high school and college level.
In ancient Egypt, a method was developed for multiplying two whole numbers by merely halving the multiplier and doubling the multiplicand; all one had to do is multiply and divide by two. This method, called "Egyptian Duplation" or sometimes "Russian Peasant Multiplication", is a popular topic in Liberal Arts Mathematics classes. Another popular topic in Liberal Arts Mathematics is the Binary Number System. Interestingly, the Egyptian Duplation Algorithm is essentially the way microprocessors multiply using a binary algorithm; the ancient Egyptians seem to have presaged how modern day computing devices multiply. Showing students the link between the Egyptian Duplation Algorithm and the Microprocessor Multiplication Algorithm would give them a deeper appreciation of electronic computing devices, as well as review the Binary Number System, and introduce them to a computing algorithm.
The Egyptian Duplation Algorithm
To multiply two whole numbers:
1 . Place each number at the top of side-by-side columns, with the multiplier in the left column and the multiplicand in...