[HN Gopher] Mathematicians discover the perfect way to multiply ... ___________________________________________________________________ Mathematicians discover the perfect way to multiply (2019) Author : galaxyLogic Score : 46 points Date : 2022-03-08 21:12 UTC (1 hours ago) (HTM) web link (www.quantamagazine.org) (TXT) w3m dump (www.quantamagazine.org) | scarmig wrote: | Title is inaccurate. The authors discovered (in 2019) an n log n | algorithm for multiplication, but didn't prove n log n was | optimal. | not2b wrote: | This point is discussed in the article. And since the FFT is n | log n, any faster algorithm would have to be completely | different. | Koshkin wrote: | Having heard as a kid that "cells multiply by division" left me | permanently confused. | memco wrote: | Didn't see details of the actual method other than it is based on | fast Fourier transforms. Would be cool to see a breakdown like | they did for the carrying and Karatsuba methods or better yet | some code. | datavirtue wrote: | They should have just written the code, patented it, and taken | a gaggle of VCs to the cleaners. | Qem wrote: | It has almost no practical use. It's a galactic algorithm. | See https://mattermodeling.stackexchange.com/q/1355/243 | doobop wrote: | The algorithm isn't (likely) to be faster for problems that | people actually have. It scales better, so it's faster than | older algorithms for large enough numbers, but the numbers | would have to be absurdly large, beyond what anybody is | likely to need anytime soon, if ever, for the algorithm to be | useful. | titzer wrote: | Paper is here: | | https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02070778v2/document | | (I just googled the authors' names). | [deleted] | jw1224 wrote: | > Four thousand years ago, the Babylonians invented | multiplication | | Invented... or discovered? | btdmaster wrote: | I've expanded out the Karatsuba method to prove it to myself that | it works for any (10a+b)(10c+d). I can highly recommend. | dalke wrote: | It's from 2019 and discussed several times before. | | https://hn.algolia.com/?query=Mathematicians%20Discover%20th... | shows about 175 comments, cumulative, with | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23919869 having 94. | dang wrote: | Year added above. Thanks! | | Related past threads: | | _Mathematicians Discover the Perfect Way to Multiply_ - | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28579007 - Sept 2021 (2 | comments) | | _Mathematicians discover a perfect way to multiply (2019)_ - | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23919869 - July 2020 (94 | comments) | | _Mathematicians Discover the Perfect Way to Multiply_ - | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19672835 - April 2019 (68 | comments) | | _Mathematicians Discover the Perfect Way to Multiply_ - | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19644374 - April 2019 (12 | comments) | | _Integer multiplication in time O(n log n) [pdf]_ - | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19474280 - March 2019 (67 | comments) | Sniffnoy wrote: | Yeah, it looks like this article is getting written now due to | the result being formally published. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2022-03-08 23:00 UTC)