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From: thomas@utah-gr.UUCP (Spencer W. Thomas)
Newsgroups: net.lang.c,net.arch
Subject: Re: Integer division
Message-ID: <1666@utah-gr.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 31-Jan-86 13:23:41 EST
Article-I.D.: utah-gr.1666
Posted: Fri Jan 31 13:23:41 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 1-Feb-86 21:37:55 EST
References: <332@ism780c.UUCP> <11603@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> <11610@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> <11612@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Reply-To: thomas@utah-gr.UUCP (Spencer W. Thomas)
Distribution: net
Organization: Univ of Utah CS Dept
Lines: 15
Xref: watmath net.lang.c:7723 net.arch:2451

There is of course, always another way to look at it.  The '%' operator
is not defined to be MOD, it is defined such that
	(a/b)*b + a%b = a
In other words, it is the REMAINDER upon dividing a by b.  Now, if you
want a%b to always be positive, you must then have
	(-a)/b != -(a/b)
which, I think you will agree, is much worse.  If you really want MOD,
here it is:
mod(a,b)
{
	return (( a % b ) + b) % b;
}

-- 
=Spencer   ({ihnp4,decvax}!utah-cs!thomas, thomas@utah-cs.ARPA)