- Intel introduced the 8086 microprocessor in 1978. This processor ended up being hugely influential, setting the path for the x86 architecture that is extensively used today. One interesting feature of the 8086 was instructions that can efficiently operate on blocks of memory up to 64K bytes long. These instructions rapidly copy, compare, or scan data and are known as “string” instructions.
- Squaring two digit numbers in your head (blog.jgc.org)
All my life I’ve done mental arithmetic the ‘wrong way’: I’ve calculated from left-to-right, instead of right-to-left. So when I do something like 24 + 35 I’ll see the 50 first and then the 9. This even applies when there’s a carry and I’ll do something like 36 + 56 as 80 + 12. I do the same thing for multiplication as well.