Gauss turned a O(n^2) problem into O(1)
Gauss would have used a pre-[1960](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karatsuba_algorithm) multiplication algorithm, with complexity at best O((log n) ^ 2).
Using an algorithm discovered in 2019 (cf. Harvey and van der Hoeven), it's possible to multiply in O(log n * log log n), if you have a lot of time. This is presumably optimal.