Floor Division in Go

TL ; DR:

• When both operands are integers, Go division returns the integral part of the result (the quotient):

  fmt.Println(10 / 2) // Output: 5
  fmt.Println(15 / 4) // Output: 3
  fmt.Println(20 / 3) // Output: 6
  

  
  

• It can also be used with variables:

  a := 3
  b := 7
  
  fmt.Println(20 / a) // Output: 6
  fmt.Println(b / a)  // Output: 2
  

Full lesson:

Remember how we first learn about the division of two integer numbers in primary school?

The quotient is the number of times a division is completed fully, while the remainder is the amount left that doesn't entirely go into the divisor.

Here are some examples:

10 / 2 = quotient 5, remainder 0
15 / 4 = quotient 3, remainder 3
20 / 3 = quotient 6, remainder 2

Integer division

Go does not have a separate // operator. If both values are integers, / returns the quotient:

fmt.Println(10 / 2) // Output: 5
fmt.Println(15 / 4) // Output: 3
fmt.Println(20 / 3) // Output: 6

It can also be used with variables:

a := 3
b := 7

fmt.Println(20 / a) // Output: 6
fmt.Println(b / a)  // Output: 2

Modulo

The modulo operator (%) calculates the remainder of dividing two values:

fmt.Println(10 % 2) // Output: 0
fmt.Println(15 % 4) // Output: 3
fmt.Println(20 % 3) // Output: 2

a := 2
b := 4

fmt.Println(b % a)  // Output: 0
fmt.Println(11 % b) // Output: 3

Quotient and remainder

In programming, we combine both these concepts to get the quotient and remainder of some division:

// Let's divide 26 by 3:
quotient := 26 / 3
remainder := 26 % 3

fmt.Println(quotient)  // Output: 8
fmt.Println(remainder) // Output: 2

Assignment
Follow the Coding Tutorial and let's practice with quotient and remainder!

Hint
Look at the examples above if you get stuck.