How to multiply faster

Today we're going to kick things off by learning 5 tips that will help you multiply numbers quickly in your head and become the mental math wizard in your family.

Tip #1: Multiplying by Powers of 5
There are times in life when you just get lucky. It turns out that one of those lucky little moments occurs each and every time you need to multiply one number by another number that happens to be a power of 5. For example, let's say you need to find 36 x 5 (which, of course, fits the bill since 5 is the first power of 5). The trick is to recognize the fact that 5 = 10 / 2. Why is that helpful? Because it means that we can find 36 x 5 by instead finding 36 x 10 (which is easy) and then dividing the result by 2. In this case, 36 x 10 = 360, and 360 / 2 = 180. Impressively speedy, right?

But we're not done! What if we instead need to solve the problem 36 x 25? Well, this trick is all about multiplying by powers of 5…and 25 = 5^2 is certainly that. So how does it work in this case? The trick here is to recognize that 25 = 100 / 4. And in general, the trick with powers of 5 is to recognize that they are always some multiple of 10 divided by an integer. This tells us that 36 x 25 = 36 x 100 / 4. Since we can quickly figure out that 36 x 100 = 3,600, it's easy to find that 36 x 25 = 3,600 / 4 = 900.

Tip #2: Squaring Numbers Ending in 5
Our fun with 5s doesn't end there. We talked about how to square numbers in your head before, but it turns out that things get a whole lot easier when squaring a two-digit number that ends in 5. Here's the trick: Any time you square a two-digit number that ends in 5, the last digits of the answer will be 25 and the digits before that are given by multiplying the first digit of the number by the number that's one greater.

Ubisoft isn't afraid of mobile gaming, sees a bright future in Wii U and Oculus Rift

Ubisoft's Alain Corre isn't worried about the rise in mobile gaming. On the contrary, Corre, who heads up the company's overseas operations, seems to welcome the uptick in iOS and Android gamers and not resignedly, either. "What we like in mobile gaming is that it's bringing a lot of new people to games," he told us. "Which for us is very good because it's a teaching thing and... at one point, some of them will feel a bit limited with the scope of mobile games and they'll want to experience something different in gaming." Whether it's the limitations of the casual genre or outright boredom, Corre's confident a chunk of these new gaming converts will seek out home console or PC experiences. Something more along the lines of a Watch Dogs or Assassin's Creed, perhaps. And with the advent of the next-gen, the timing for this gaming initiation couldn't be better for Ubisoft.

And then there was Wii U. Ubisoft famously announced Rayman Legends as a console exclusive for Nintendo's platform at launch and then publicly reversed course when systems sales flagged. The title's now set for an imminent multiplatform release, but don't expect Corre to speak ill of Nintendo's two-screened gambit. "We consider the Wii U a great machine [and] the GamePad is second to none... We just need Nintendo to put more energy [in]. A lot of consumers will want this machine if the energy is put in." It's a bullish outlook especially considering ZombieU, a launch exclusive that took full advantage of the GamePad, failed to fly off shelves. Yet, Corre believes the market is still there for the Wii U and that games like Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros could help Nintendo see a change of fortune. At which point, Ubisoft will be ready to allocate development resources back to the console. For now, though, there's Just Dance and Rayman Legends on the horizon, and maybe even some Rayman DLC. "That's something we are thinking of for Rayman Legends. There may be some extra things we can do for this game."

Nintendo's second screen isn't the only one Ubisoft's focused on. Both Microsoft and Sony have solutions in place for their respective next-gen consoles and Corre is adamant that Ubisoft will support those experiences. He explained that this strategy would be an organic, integral part of all game development, saying that, "For us, we consider that, moving forward, the big experiences will need to have a second screen experience because it's part of the gameplay. So, all this extra gameplay will become... natural for the next big games." But don't take that as a catch-all pledge. Corre was cagey when we asked specifically about blanket PS Vita Remote Play support -- despite Sony's Shuhei Yoshida's insistence that Remote Play support exists on a system level for the vast majority of PS4 games -- a function only recently demoed for Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag. Corre admitted that it would be determined on a case-by-case basis.