Turns out there’s a pretty simple pattern for multiplying large strings of 9’s together.
Do you see it?
Let’s say there’s 40 9’s on top, and 28 9’s on botton.
The count tells you how many 9’s and 0’s to put in and where.
From the short string, subtract one from the count and start with that many 9’s. Put in an 8. Write as man 9’s are there are more in the longer string than the short. Follow with as many zeros as you had 9’s originally, and finally a 1 at the end.
This is what math nerds do in high school when playing around with their calculator on the bus.
There are patterns for strings of other numbers, but none of them as simple as 9’s.
Doubtless this was figured out several hundred years ago by somebody else, but just in case, I wanted to plant my flag in the ground.
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