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Re: C arithmetic question.

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On 01/24/2012 11:14 AM, Chad wrote:
> On Jan 18, 11:14 pm, Michael Press <rub...@pacbell.net> wrote:
...
>> I prefer mine. C does not have a consistent approach to arithmetic.
>> The soi disant mod operator violates the fundamental law:
>>
>> x = y (mod m) if and only if x - y  is divisible by m.
>>
>> There is nothing to gain by learning C's idiosyncratic
>> rules on integer types for the purpose of doing arithmetic.
>>
> 
> I've seen some Math definitions that place the additional restriction
> that the remainder r and divisor d is such that
> 
> 0 <=r < d
> 
> It looks like the mod operator in this case accounting for such a
> restriction.

No, that's not what's going on. C's definition for the modulus operator
contains no such restriction. In fact, it requires that a%b be negative
if a and b are both signed, and a is negative, unless 'a' is a multiple
of b.

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

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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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