Napier's Bones - Diagonal Modification

Diagonal Modification

During the 19th century, Napier's bones underwent a transformation to make them easier to read. The rods began to be made with an angle of about 65° so that the triangles that had to be added were aligned vertically. In this case, in each square of the rod the unit is to the right and the ten (or the zero) to the left.

The rods were made such that the vertical and horizontal lines were more visible than the line where the rods touched, making the two components of each digit of the result much easier to read. Thus, in the picture it is immediately clear that:

987654321 × 5 = 4938271605

Read more about this topic:  Napier's Bones