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Zero divided by a negative or positive number is either zero or is expressed as a fraction with zero as numerator and the finite quantity as denominator. Zero divided by zero is zero. In 830, Mahāvīra unsuccessfully tried to correct the mistake Brahmagupta made in his book Ganita Sara Samgraha : "A number remains unchanged when divided by zero."
Long division is the standard algorithm used for pen-and-paper division of multi-digit numbers expressed in decimal notation. It shifts gradually from the left to the right end of the dividend, subtracting the largest possible multiple of the divisor (at the digit level) at each stage; the multiples then become the digits of the quotient, and the final difference is then the remainder.
Divisors can be negative as well as positive, although often the term is restricted to positive divisors. For example, there are six divisors of 4; they are 1, 2, 4, −1, −2, and −4, but only the positive ones (1, 2, and 4) would usually be mentioned. 1 and −1 divide (are divisors of) every integer.
To test the divisibility of a number by a power of 2 or a power of 5 (2 n or 5 n, in which n is a positive integer), one only need to look at the last n digits of that number. To test divisibility by any number expressed as the product of prime factors p 1 n p 2 m p 3 q {\displaystyle p_{1}^{n}p_{2}^{m}p_{3}^{q}} , we can separately test for ...
Because of the rules of division of signed numbers (which states in part that negative divided by positive is negative), − 1 / 2 , −1 / 2 and 1 / −2 all represent the same fraction – negative one-half. And because a negative divided by a negative produces a positive, −1 / −2 represents positive one-half.
the product of a negative number—al-nāqiṣ (loss)—by a positive number—al-zāʾid (gain)—is negative, and by a negative number is positive. If we subtract a negative number from a higher negative number, the remainder is their negative difference. The difference remains positive if we subtract a negative number from a lower negative ...
In these examples, the (negative) least absolute remainder is obtained from the least positive remainder by subtracting 5, which is d. This holds in general. When dividing by d, either both remainders are positive and therefore equal, or they have opposite signs. If the positive remainder is r 1, and the negative one is r 2, then r 1 = r 2 + d.
Dividing integers in a computer program requires special care. Some programming languages treat integer division as in case 5 above, so the answer is an integer. Other languages, such as MATLAB and every computer algebra system return a rational number as the answer, as in case 3 above. These languages also provide functions to get the results ...