Russian peasant multiplication English

Meaning Russian peasant multiplication meaning

What does Russian peasant multiplication mean?

Russian peasant multiplication noun

— (multiplication) A form of multiplication in which the powers of two in the decomposition of the multiplicand are found by writing it on the left and progressively halving the left column, discarding any remainder, until the value is 1 (or −1, in which case the eventual sum is negated), while doubling the right column.