Hi, thanks, to you and everybody! My question is: how does a computer actually do it? When we are dividing a number by a multiple of two, for example 5 = 101 divided by 2 = 10, then all we do is shift the bit by the number of digits after the leading 1 in 2. So, 101 divided by 10 means drop the last 1 in the 101 so we get 10. What happens if we divide 5= 101 by 3= 11? Anything similar? No, this is not something for homework. In fact, I am not a computer scientist but a statistician. I last turned in a homework assignment ten years ago.... I just was curious, and I thought entrepreneurial Fedora users would be the best to ask! Best wishes! --- Andrea Giuliano <a.giuliano@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > I hope I understand your question right! Pardon me if I'm completely out > of target. > > The only way I know to do divisions is repeating a subtraction until you > get a null remainder. This is how mathematicians define integer > division, if I'm not too much in error: > > "given integer A and B, there is a unique pair of integer Q and R such > that 0<=R<B and A=B*Q+R" > > So you see that you only can get Q and R subtracting B from A until you > get a non null remainder. This should work for positive or negative > numbers, but it's easier to understand for positive numbers. > > Mmhhh, yes, it's not very clear, sorry. > > Globe Trotter wrote: > > HI, > > > > Does anyone know how the computer *actually* does integer > > division? I understand that with powers of 2, it just does bit > > shifting, but what about other powers, do you know? > > > > (for example, 5/2 = 101/10 so shift the 101 by 1 and get 10, but how > > does 5/3 work, lets say?) > > > > Thanks and best wishes! > > > > > > > > > > __________________________________ > > Do you Yahoo!? > > Read only the mail you want - Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard. > > http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail > > > > -- > Andrea Giuliano, Ph. D. > ICCU - Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo Unico > Viale Castro Pretorio 105, Rome - ITALY > Tel. +39064989509, Fax +39064059302 > > -- > fedora-list mailing list > fedora-list@xxxxxxxxxx > To unsubscribe: http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Meet the all-new My Yahoo! - Try it today! http://my.yahoo.com
