Yeah, for sure, if the numbers break easily into small factors, that's the way to go. Redundant numbers still work even when the factors are few, large, or difficult to calculate, however:

    17 * 17
    170 + 17*7
    170 + 07(49)
    1(14)(49)
    24(49)
    289

7x7 isn’t 47, and 94x2 isn’t 196

Despite that, the breakup does hold up the correct calculation:

    14 * 14
    (7 * 2) * (7 * 2)
    7 * 7 * 2 * 2
    49 * 2 * 2
    98 * 2
    196

And on my side, 49 * 2 quickly resolves to "a hundred minus 2" (because 49 * 2 = (50 - 1) * 2), and pretty much the same for 196 (200 - 4).

Woops, fixed it.

Thanks for noticing!