English: Multiplication by a Large Number.— For elementary work the multiplicand may come immediately after the multiplier, as in D; the last figure of each partial product then comes immediately under the corresponding figure of the multiplier. A better method, which leads up to the multiplication of decimals and of approximate values of numbers, is to place the first figure of the multiplier under the first figure of the multiplicand, as in E; the first figure of each partial product will then come under the corresponding figure of the multiplier.
(Illustration from Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, 1911, article Arithmetic)