There are various interpretations of modulo. It's not simply
"remainder", eg see the discussion at
http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/52343.html including this chart
from the 1983 Ada manual:
The relations between integer division, remainder, and modulus are
illustrated by the following table:
A B A/B A rem B A mod B A B A/B A rem B A mod B
10 5 2 0 0 -10 5 -2 0 0
11 5 2 1 1 -11 5 -2 -1 4
12 5 2 2 2 -12 5 -2 -2 3
13 5 2 3 3 -13 5 -2 -3 2
14 5 2 4 4 -14 5 -2 -4 1
10 -5 -2 0 0 -10 -5 2 0 0
11 -5 -2 1 -4 -11 -5 2 -1 -1
12 -5 -2 2 -3 -12 -5 2 -2 -2
13 -5 -2 3 -2 -13 -5 2 -3 -3
14 -5 -2 4 -1 -14 -5 2 -4 -4
PB
Jigal van Hemert wrote:
>From: "Thomas Lenherr"
>
>Hi Thomas,
>
>
>
>>I just wanted to know if there is a special reason for the
>>mathematically incorrect implementation of the modulo-operation in mysql.
>>Using a correct modulo operation on a negative number would still result
>>in a positive number:
>>-1 % 2 == 1 (mysql: -1)
>>-5 % 3 == 1 (mysql: -2)
>>-1 % 4 == 3 (mysql: -1)
>>
>>(For the exact definition see
>>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modulo_operation )
>>
>>AFAIK most programming languages implement modulo in this wrong way
>>(except pascal i think), but I don't have a clou why it should stay that
>>way as I find this behaviour rather disturbing...
>>
>>
>
>I don't see any difference between the wikipedia definition and the MySQL
>implementation, especially since the article mentions that "what exactly
>constitutes the result of a modulo operation depends on the programming
>language and/or the underlying hardware."
>
>In the MySQL manual the results for negative numbers are not mentioned, nor
>defined.
>
>IMHO the examples you mention give correct results with MySQL:
> -1 / 2 = 0 remains: -1
> -5 / 3 = -1 remains: -2
> -1 / 4 = 0 remains: -1
>
>Regards, Jigal.
>
>
>
>
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