Visualize multiplication

Posted June 18th, 2008 by Mgccl
in

I have always searched for a visualization of multiplication.
Not the
"there are 3 apples and there are 3 set of them and we get 9 apples"
but a visualization on a number line. Like the visualization of addition.
addition can be visualized like this according to Wikipedia.


A number-line visualization of the algebraic addition 2 + 4 = 6. A translation by 2 followed by a translation by 4 is the same as a translation by 6.

There are visualization that take 2 numbers and create an area, but it doesn't map that area onto a number line.

Just yesterday I finally saw what I needed, the visualization of multiplication though visual sieve by Yuri Matiyasevich and Boris Stechkin.

Read more about it here.


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First thing I did was proved

Simon's picture
On June 19th, 2008 Simon (not verified) says:

First thing I did was proved it worked.

Although I do like the idea of multiplication as the area of a rectangle, side lengths of the multiplicands

Have you thought about how

Simon's picture
On June 19th, 2008 Simon (not verified) says:

Have you thought about how to generalise this to negative numbers yet (and complex)

not yet. Interesting, let me

Mgccl's picture
On June 19th, 2008 Mgccl says:

not yet. Interesting, let me thing about it.
complex number multiplication require more than 2D.

3D

Simon's picture
On June 19th, 2008 Simon (not verified) says:

At the moment I'm fairly sure that 3D is needed for negative numbers, let me work on it a bit more

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