Discussion on: Day 2 Learning Javascript

View post

You can think of modulo like so.
where floor means round down

                       x = 12 % 5
  12 - (floor(12/5) * 5) = 12 % 5
   12 - (floor(2.4) * 5) = 12 % 5
            12 - (2 * 5) = 12 % 5
                 12 - 10 = 12 % 5
                       2 = 12 % 5

More generic example

                       x = a % b 
    a - (floor(a/b) * b) = a % b

So let's do a random one 34 % 14

                       x = 34 % 14
34 - (floor(34/14) * 14) = 34 % 14
34 - (floor(2.428) * 14) = 34 % 14
           34 - (2 * 14) = 34 % 14
                 34 - 28 = 34 % 14
                       6 = 34 % 14

I don't know if this helps or not 🙂

amberchisholm • Mar 16 '19

Wow! I've been going through Stack Overflow and MDN trying to find deeper explanations on this and so far yours is the best breakdown I've seen. The way you explained it definitely makes more sense. So using another example via your method..

26 % 8 = x
26 - (floor(26/8) * 8 = x
26 - (floor(3.25) * 8 = x
26 - (3 * 8) = x
26 - 24 = 2

Is that correct?

Thank you so much for your help!

Andrew Bone • Mar 16 '19

Yep that's correct, well done 🙂
Glad I could help.