Abstract: A system and method for generating row addresses for a memory structure on a column by column basis. In accordance with the novel method, a column read start address (SC) is subtracted from a column address (COL) to provide a column offset. Next, the column offset is multiplied by the multiplicative inverse of the skip period in modulo (SPM.sup.-1) to provide a first product. The first product is multiplied by a skip period between data strings to provide a second product. The second product is divided by a number (NC) which represents the number of columns in the memory structure to provide a first quotient. Finally, a base row address of a first row to be read (BRA) is added to the first quotient to provide a row address (RA). In a specific embodiment, the step of multiplying the column offset by the multiplicative inverse of the skip period in modulo includes the step of converting the first product to a modulo product.