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- Subject: Re: Modulo
- From: David Kastrup <dak@...>
- Date: Thu, 04 Oct 2007 01:45:55 +0200
"Patrick Donnelly" <batrick.donnelly@gmail.com> writes:
> I'm curious why during Lua's development it was decided that the
> modulus operator be implemented
>
> in Lua:
>
> -7 % 5 = 3
In my book, the only sensible definition.
> where in C:
>
> -7 % 5 = -2
Not at all: you'll find that in C, there merely is the definition
a%b = a - (a/b)*b;
and it is not defined whether (-7)/5 is actually -1 or -2.
> All mathematicians I've spoken to agree that the modulus is defined
> by division:
>
> a = b * q + r
>
> such that q is an integer and r is a natural number.
>
> Naturally -2 is part of the congruence class 3 bar (mod 5) (can't make
> the symbol in plain text).
>
> I would say Lua has done it "correctly", but I'm afraid some
> mathematicians would disagree and say:
>
> 0 <= abs(r) < abs(b)
Huh? This relation is satisfied by Lua. Where is the disagreement?
> So, was there a reason why? Personally I'm pretty happy it was
> defined the way it was.
Well, it goes nicely with math.floor(a/b).
--
David Kastrup, Kriemhildstr. 15, 44793 Bochum