Abacus Division

[@joethesupercow]

Very helpful! Thank you!

[@lorensims4846]

Just as division can be done with repetitive subtraction, multiplication can be done with repetitive addition. I'm convinced this is how computers do it. Binary numbers are not unlike abacus beads.

[@amartini51]

That's one way to do it, and is sometimes used on very simple CPUs - for example, the 6502 doesn't have multiplication, so you have to add and keep track in software to do multiplication. But most modern CPUs have dedicated instructions for multiplication, with corresponding circuitry that implements it. In the olden days of computers, this would have even been a "budget" vs "power" option: Do you want to pay extra to have fast multiplication and division, done in hardware, or do you want a slower but cheaper computer?

[@LANCSKID]

Abacus Division … weren’t they a rock band from Arkansas in the 1980’s?

[@Joe_VanCleave]

They should’ve been! I’ll have to add that to my list of potential band names!

[@Saaahdood]

-1 = 9 Yeah you lost me. Was 6 - 7 supposed to be -1, or is the problem 16 - 7? Because you dont just ADD 10 to numbers in subtraction regardless of how you do the math. I'm assuming this method is strictly used for division now that I watched a bit longer.

[@benbaker9990]

For most engineering problems going to three decimal places is good.

[@NHGeneral]

for CNC, I believe 6 digits after the dot is considered acceptable.