Greg "dratsab" Huffman's Mulitiplication with 9's Trick 4/29/2008

This trick will show you an easy method for doing 9 times two & three digit numbers in
your head. This method works on all 9's.
Take for example 9X25 think of the 25 in a set of !"'s starting with !#!" then !!#2"
then 2!#$" which is what 25 is in %or you could &ust round all numbers up to the nearest
ten whate'er works for you(. )o now omit the last *ero ###+ 25 rounds up to $" $" omit
the *ero e,uals $. -ow take the number 25 minus $ ###+ 22. -ow 2.2/0 whatyou need
to do is make sure the numbers add up to 9 since all products of 9 will e,ual 9 when
added up %some may add up to !1 22 $3 etc but all will reduce to a base of
9(. 2.2.5/9. )o 229 is the answer to 9X25 %or say if you get something that goes o'er 9
like 990 which would be summed to 22 make sure you bring it up to what would be the
next 9 multiple which is 22(. 4nother thing you can do is &ust multiply 9 by the last digit
number of the other number so for 25 do 9X5/05 and only keep the last digit of that
which is 5.
5xamples6
!( 2$0
2$!#20" %meaning through not a minus sign it refers to the set idea(
omit the " ###+ 20
2$0#20/2!"
2.!."/$ $.x/9
x/3
2!"3 is the answer
2( 919
919#99/19"
1.9/!2
!2.x/!1
19"!
$( !2
!2#2/!5
!5$
0( 9
9#!/1
1!
5( 222
222#2$/350
350$
3( 32
32#2/3"
3"$
2( 555
555#53/099
0995
7589 ):;<=5>
?5X@5<T:A-)6 -umbers ending with " &ust add a " to the end. -umbers ending with
! &ust add a 9 to the end. 5xamples6 !!X9 !!#2/9 that already adds up to 9 so it could
be misleading now add a nine to the end 99. )ame for $0!X9 $0!#$5/ $"3 $"3/9 add
another 9 to the end of $"3 $"39.
?-AT56 9es : am aware that !"x#x is another method but : find that while the formula
is easier to remember than mine mine is faster. 5xample for 22 using the A=B method
##+ 22"#22 is what you ha'e to do in your head while using my -5C :;<8A75B
method ###+ 22#$ is a lot faster unless adding another number to the sum to get 9 is too
difficult for you which it shouldn't be if you are willing to do bigger number formulas
o'er simpler ones.
%2D2$D2"!2( -AT56 : recently noticed that some numbers ending with a " you cannot
simply put a " at the end because if you do the answer will be incorrectE usually the
numbers will add up to 1 instead of 9. Felow is an example.
9?53"
3"#52
;y method / 5"$"
4ctual answer / 5"0"
:t seems to fix this you can &ust add a ! to the tens place so that all the numbers add up
to 9 instead of 1. :f you count 5.".$." you get an 1. )o add ! to the tens place and
you get 5.".0." which e,uals 9. This pattern could change depending on the amount of
digits but : ha'enGt had time to 'erify this yet.
%2D20D2"!2( -AT56 Bisregard pre'ious note : made a mistake when recalling my
formula. : was rounding up as in !"#!9 / H2I" but in actuality my method would be !!#
2" / H2I". Tens do not round up if there is not a number higher than *ero beside it.
Jowe'er : will lea'e these notes up as a reminder to myself %and perhaps others( not to
make this mistake again.