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Re: C arithmetic question.

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On 01/24/2012 12:26 PM, Chad wrote:
> On Jan 24, 9:15 am, James Kuyper <jameskuy...@verizon.net> wrote:
...
>> What's causing this C code to correctly produce a value other than the
>> one Michael was expecting is the fact that 'a' has the type 'long',
>> while 'b' has the type 'unsigned long', with the result that 'a' is
>> converted to the 'unsigned long' before evaluating the modulus. The
>> conversion produces the value ULONG_MAX-57, which is positive, so that
>> a%b produces a value of 21.  Michael's assertion to the contrary
>> notwithstanding, a - a%b is in fact divisible by b (because the same
>> conversion occurs to both occurrences of 'a'). If Michael had written
>>
>>         a %= (long)b;
>>
>> b would have been converted to long, without change of value, and he
>> would have gotten a result of -21, which violates the requirement you
>> mention, but satisfies the one he mentions. Whether that's the value he
>> was expecting is unclear; he might have been expecting 16.cd- Hide quoted text -
>>
> 
> Maybe I'm being a bit daft, but your explanation sort of mirrors how
> you would go about dividing something like -11 by 3 when the remainder
> can't be negative.

I'm not sure exactly what you're saying. The C standard requires
a) (-11)/3 == -3
b) ((-11)/3)*3 + (-11)%3 == -11

which means that (-11)%3 == -2.

It also requires that, on a system where ULONG_MAX == 4294967295, that
a) (-11UL)/3 == 1431655761
b) ((-11UL)/3)*3 + (-11UL)%3 == -11UL
which means that (-11UL)%3 == 2.

That's because the expression -11UL has a value of 4294967285. Michael
didn't realize that he was writing the equivalent of such an expression,
because he wasn't paying attention to the usual arithmetic conversions.

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C arithmetic question. Michael Press <rubrum@pacbell.net> - 2012-01-18 10:32 -0800
  Re: C arithmetic question. James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2012-01-18 14:03 -0500
    Re: C arithmetic question. TheGunslinger <mikiesrunsbaal.sec@sbcglobal.net> - 2012-01-18 19:30 -0800
      Re: C arithmetic question. James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2012-01-19 08:10 -0500
  Re: C arithmetic question. Markus Wichmann <nullplan@gmx.net> - 2012-01-18 21:14 +0100
    Re: C arithmetic question. "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2012-01-19 10:44 +0000
      Re: C arithmetic question. Seebs <usenet-nospam@seebs.net> - 2012-01-21 21:32 +0000
  Re: C arithmetic question. Peter Nilsson <airia@acay.com.au> - 2012-01-18 13:51 -0800
    Re: C arithmetic question. Michael Press <rubrum@pacbell.net> - 2012-01-18 15:51 -0800
      Re: C arithmetic question. James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2012-01-18 20:50 -0500
        Re: C arithmetic question. Michael Press <rubrum@pacbell.net> - 2012-01-20 12:41 -0800
          Re: C arithmetic question. Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2012-01-20 14:11 -0800
            Re: C arithmetic question. gazelle@shell.xmission.com (Kenny McCormack) - 2012-01-20 22:43 +0000
          Re: C arithmetic question. James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2012-01-20 17:19 -0500
            Re: C arithmetic question. James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2012-01-20 17:32 -0500
              And jacob navia <jacob@spamsink.net> - 2012-01-20 23:52 +0100
                Re: And Markus Wichmann <nullplan@gmx.net> - 2012-01-21 19:23 +0100
                Re: And Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2012-01-21 13:20 -0800
                Re: And jacob navia <jacob@spamsink.net> - 2012-01-21 23:02 +0100
                Re: And Markus Wichmann <nullplan@gmx.net> - 2012-01-22 15:24 +0100
                Re: And Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2012-01-22 15:40 +0000
                Re: And blp@cs.stanford.edu (Ben Pfaff) - 2012-01-21 11:02 -0800
          Re: C arithmetic question. Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2012-01-24 18:53 +0000
      Re: C arithmetic question. Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2012-01-19 02:09 +0000
      Re: C arithmetic question. Joe Pfeiffer <pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu> - 2012-01-18 23:00 -0700
        Re: C arithmetic question. Michael Press <rubrum@pacbell.net> - 2012-01-18 23:14 -0800
          Re: C arithmetic question. Ike Naar <ike@sverige.freeshell.org> - 2012-01-19 08:41 +0000
            Re: C arithmetic question. Michael Press <rubrum@pacbell.net> - 2012-01-20 12:43 -0800
              Re: C arithmetic question. Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2012-01-20 22:17 +0000
                Re: C arithmetic question. Michael Press <rubrum@pacbell.net> - 2012-01-21 00:12 -0800
              Re: C arithmetic question. Seebs <usenet-nospam@seebs.net> - 2012-01-21 21:32 +0000
                Re: C arithmetic question. Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2012-01-21 23:21 +0000
                Re: C arithmetic question. Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2012-01-22 00:48 -0600
                Re: C arithmetic question. Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2012-01-22 11:45 +0000
                Re: C arithmetic question. Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2012-01-22 21:46 -0600
                Re: C arithmetic question. Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2012-01-23 04:17 +0000
                Re: C arithmetic question. Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2012-01-23 11:19 +0000
                Re: C arithmetic question. Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2012-01-26 10:41 -0800
                Re: C arithmetic question. Seebs <usenet-nospam@seebs.net> - 2012-01-23 07:58 +0000
                Re: C arithmetic question. Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2012-01-23 11:06 +0000
                Re: C arithmetic question. James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2012-01-23 07:03 -0500
                Re: C arithmetic question. Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2012-01-23 17:27 +0000
          Re: C arithmetic question. Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2012-01-19 02:38 -0800
            Re: C arithmetic question. Dr Nick <3-nospam@temporary-address.org.uk> - 2012-01-20 07:30 +0000
          Re: C arithmetic question. Nomen Nescio <nobody@dizum.com> - 2012-01-19 12:28 +0100
            Re: C arithmetic question. Michael Press <rubrum@pacbell.net> - 2012-01-20 12:44 -0800
              Re: C arithmetic question. 88888 Dihedral <dihedral88888@googlemail.com> - 2012-01-20 13:14 -0800
          Re: C arithmetic question. James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2012-01-19 08:45 -0500
          Re: C arithmetic question. Chad <cdalten@gmail.com> - 2012-01-24 08:14 -0800
            Re: C arithmetic question. James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2012-01-24 12:15 -0500
              Re: C arithmetic question. Chad <cdalten@gmail.com> - 2012-01-24 09:26 -0800
                Re: C arithmetic question. James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2012-01-24 12:39 -0500
                Re: C arithmetic question. Chad <cdalten@gmail.com> - 2012-01-24 10:03 -0800
                Re: C arithmetic question. James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2012-01-24 13:23 -0500
                Re: C arithmetic question. Chad <cdalten@gmail.com> - 2012-01-24 10:40 -0800
                Re: C arithmetic question. James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2012-01-24 14:35 -0500
                Re: C arithmetic question. Chad <cdalten@gmail.com> - 2012-01-24 12:04 -0800
                Re: C arithmetic question. Chad <cdalten@gmail.com> - 2012-01-24 12:02 -0800
                Re: C arithmetic question. Kleuske <kleuske@nowhere.net> - 2012-01-24 20:26 +0000
                Re: C arithmetic question. Chad <cdalten@gmail.com> - 2012-01-24 13:45 -0800
                Re: C arithmetic question. James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2012-01-24 15:40 -0500
                Re: C arithmetic question. Chad <cdalten@gmail.com> - 2012-01-24 12:09 -0800
      Re: C arithmetic question. Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2012-01-24 18:48 +0000
    Re: C arithmetic question. "osmium" <r124c4u102@comcast.net> - 2012-01-19 08:12 -0600
  Re: C arithmetic question. Geoff <geoff@invalid.invalid> - 2012-01-20 15:33 -0800
    Re: C arithmetic question. Kleuske <kleuske@nowhere.net> - 2012-01-27 08:17 +0000
      Re: C arithmetic question. Geoff <geoff@invalid.invalid> - 2012-01-27 13:37 -0800

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