Have you ever heard of people using their hands to multiply two numbers?

I have heard of people using their hands for adding two small numbers, but I just read about using hands to multiply two numbers.

The idea is pretty simple. To multiply by 3, for example, just start adding by 3 and raise a finger each time you do an addition. Stop when the number of fingers raised equals what you are multiplying 3 by. It does require being able to count by whatever number is being multiplied, so I can see where there may be a problem for larger numbers, but for 2 to 5, it should work for most students.