Question: Multiply 432 by 617.
Answer:
432
x 617
_______
3024
432
2592
_______
266544
the shortcut
More the number of digits in the numbers, more lines and time you consume. No more! Using the Sutra "Vertically and Crosswise", you have
Step 1 (mentally, don't write on notebook) : vertically (last digits) :
2x7=14; write 4 carry 1
Step 2 (mentally) : crosswise (last two digits) :
3x7 +2x1 = 23 +carry 1 = 24; write 4 carry 2
Step 3 : vertically and crosswise (three digits) :
4x7 + 3x1 +2x6 = 43 +carry 2 = 45; write 5 carry 4
Step 4 : (move left; first two digits) :
4x1 +3x6 = 22 +carry 4 = 26; write 6 carry 2
Step 5 : (move left; first digit of each number) :
4x6 = 24 +carry 2 = 26. End.
Write answer : 266544
No matter how big the numbers are, you will need to write only the final answer. All other steps are easily carried out mentally. If the two numbers have different number of digits, write smaller number below the other and pad it on left side with zeros. The theory behind above example is :
ax² +bx +c
dx² +ex +f
_____________________________________
adx4 +(ae+bd)x³ +(af+be+cd)x² +(bf+ce)x +cf
Observe that coefficient of x0 (units digit) is cf, which is obtained by multiplying last two coefficients (vertically). The coefficient of x1 (tens digit) is bf+ce, which is obtained by crosswise multiplication of last two coefficients. The coefficient of x² (hundreds digit) is af+be+cd, which is obtained by crosswise and vertical multiplication of last three coefficients. Now as all coefficients are used up, we leave last coefficients and use the remaining, and so on.