I’ve recently been doing more maths than usual using Roman numerals, which has got me thinking about the relationship between how numbers are represented and how easy it is for them to do different jobs for us. I’ll go into a few representations below, and their good and bad points. I won’t talk about floating … Continue reading Representing numbers
Category: Maths
Multiplying using halving, doubling and summing
I was introduced to an interesting way of multiplying two numbers (integers greater than 0) recently, at a Tudor re-enactment at Kentwell Hall. It took me a while to realise what was going on behind the scenes, at least in terms of things I already understood. As it also made me think in a new … Continue reading Multiplying using halving, doubling and summing
Squaring complex numbers
As I mentioned in my post about quantum computing, complex numbers are a crucial part of quantum computing programs. I rushed over their details (and lots of other things) in that post, because I was trying to lay out the headlines of everything that you (and I) would need to know in order to understand … Continue reading Squaring complex numbers