title: How can I perform multiplication without the '*' operator?
body: <p>I was just going through some basic stuff as I am learning C. I came upon a question to multiply a number by 7 without using the * operator. Basically it's like this</p>
  
  <pre><code>      (x &lt;&lt; 3) - x;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Now I know about basic bit manipulation operations, but I can't get how do you multiply a number by any other odd number without using the * operator? Is there a general algorithm for this?</p>