title: Multiplying without the multiplication operator in python
body: <p>How do I write a python script that multiplies <code>x * y</code> without using the multiplication operator? I know that basically you should have:</p>
  
  <pre><code>def multi():
      x = raw_input('x is: ')
      y = raw_input('y is: ')
      z = #(x + x) y times
      return z
  
  multi()
  </code></pre>