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Mathematics

Humans beat DeepMind AI in creating algorithm to multiply numbers

One week after DeepMind revealed an algorithm for multiplying numbers more efficiently, researchers have an even better way to carry out the task

By Matthew Sparkes

13 October 2022

Young girl writing multiplication equations on a blackboard

Multiplying numbers is a common computational problem

narvikk/Getty Images

A pair of researchers have found a more efficient way to multiply grids of numbers, beating a record set just a week ago by the artificial intelligence firm DeepMind.

The company revealed on 5 October that its AI software had beaten a record that had stood for more than 50 years for the matrix multiplication problem – a common operation in all sorts of software where grids of numbers are multiplied by each other. DeepMind’s paper revealed a new method for multiplying two…

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