 | ||
In computing, the modulo operation finds the remainder after division of one number by another (sometimes called modulus).
Contents
- Remainder calculation for the modulo operation
- Common pitfalls
- Notation
- Performance issues
- Equivalencies
- References
Given two positive numbers, a (the dividend) and n (the divisor), a modulo n (abbreviated as a mod n) is the remainder of the Euclidean division of a by n. For example, the expression "5 mod 2" would evaluate to 1 because 5 divided by 2 leaves a quotient of 2 and a remainder of 1, while "9 mod 3" would evaluate to 0 because the division of 9 by 3 has a quotient of 3 and leaves a remainder of 0; there is nothing to subtract from 9 after multiplying 3 times 3. (Note that doing the division with a calculator will not show the result referred to here by this operation; the quotient will be expressed as a decimal fraction.)
Although typically performed with a and n both being integers, many computing systems allow other types of numeric operands. The range of numbers for an integer modulo of n is 0 to n − 1. (a mod 1 is always 0; a mod 0 is undefined, possibly resulting in a division by zero error in programming languages.) See modular arithmetic for an older and related convention applied in number theory.
When either a or n is negative, the naive definition breaks down and programming languages differ in how these values are defined.
Remainder calculation for the modulo operation
In mathematics, the result of the modulo operation is the remainder of the Euclidean division. However, other conventions are possible. Computers and calculators have various ways of storing and representing numbers; thus their definition of the modulo operation depends on the programming language or the underlying hardware.
In nearly all computing systems, the quotient q and the remainder r of a divided by n satisfy
However, this still leaves a sign ambiguity if the remainder is nonzero: two possible choices for the remainder occur, one negative and the other positive, and two possible choices for the quotient occur. Usually, in number theory, the positive remainder is always chosen, but programming languages choose depending on the language and the signs of a or n.[6] Standard Pascal and ALGOL 68 give a positive remainder (or 0) even for negative divisors, and some programming languages, such as C90, leave it to the implementation when either of n or a is negative. See the table for details. a modulo 0 is undefined in most systems, although some do define it as a.
As described by Leijen,
Boute argues that Euclidean division is superior to the other ones in terms of regularity and useful mathematical properties, although floored division, promoted by Knuth, is also a good definition. Despite its widespread use, truncated division is shown to be inferior to the other definitions.
Common pitfalls
When the result of a modulo operation has the sign of the dividend, it can lead to surprising mistakes.
For example, to test if an integer is odd, one might be inclined to test if the remainder by 2 is equal to 1:
But in a language where modulo has the sign of the dividend, that is incorrect, because when n (the dividend) is negative and odd, n mod 2 returns −1, and the function returns false.
One correct alternative is to test that it is not 0 (because remainder 0 is the same regardless of the signs):
Or, by understanding in the first place that for any odd number, the modulo remainder may be either 1 or −1:
Notation
Some calculators have a mod() function button, and many programming languages have a similar function, expressed as mod(a, n), for example. Some also support expressions that use "%", "mod", or "Mod" as a modulo or remainder operator, such as
a % n
or
a mod n
or equivalent, for environments lacking a mod() function (note that 'int' inherently produces the truncated value of a/n)
a - (n * int(a/n))
Performance issues
Modulo operations might be implemented such that a division with a remainder is calculated each time. For special cases, on some hardware, faster alternatives exist. For example, the modulo of powers of 2 can alternatively be expressed as a bitwise AND operation:
x % 2n == x & (2n - 1)
Examples (assuming x is a positive integer):
x % 2 == x & 1
x % 4 == x & 3
x % 8 == x & 7
In devices and software that implement bitwise operations more efficiently than modulo, these alternative forms can result in faster calculations.
Optimizing compilers may recognize expressions of the form expression % constant where constant is a power of two and automatically implement them as expression & (constant-1). This can allow writing clearer code without compromising performance. This optimization is not possible for languages in which the result of the modulo operation has the sign of the dividend (including C), unless the dividend is of an unsigned integer type. This is because, if the dividend is negative, the modulo will be negative, whereas expression & (constant-1) will always be positive.
Equivalencies
Some modulo operations can be factored or expanded similar to other mathematical operations. This may be useful in cryptography proofs, such as the Diffie–Hellman key exchange.