Divide a number by 3 without using *, /, +, -, % operators

Question

Quoting this question on SO (Spoiler alert!):

This question has been asked in an Oracle interview.

How would you divide a number by 3 without using *, /, +, -, %, operators?

The number may be signed or unsigned.

The task is solvable, but see if you can write the shortest code.

Rules:

• Perform the required integer division (/3)
• Do not use the non-text-based operators *, /, +, -, or % (or their equivalents, such as __div__ or add()). Use of operators for string concatenation and formatting are ok.
• Input value can be arbitrarily large (whatever your system can handle), both positive and negative
• Input can be on STDIN or ARGV or entered any other way
• Create the shortest code you can to do the above

Answer 1

J, 45 44 10 chars

".,&'r3'":

Works with negatives:

".,&'r3'": 15
5
   ".,&'r3'": _9
_3
   ".,&'r3'": 3e99
1e99

": - format as text

,&'r3' - append r3 to the end

". - execute the string, e.g. 15r3

Answer 2

Ruby 33 31

p gets.to_i.to_s(3).chop.to_i 3

To divide by 3 we just need to remove the trailing zero in base 3 number: 120 -> 11110 -> 1111 -> 40

Works with negatives:

ice distantstar:~/virt/golf [349:1]% ruby ./div3.rb
666
222
ice distantstar:~/virt/golf [349]% ruby ./div3.rb
-15        
-5

Ruby, 60

Alternatively, w/o using base conversion:

d=->n{x=n.abs;r=(0..1.0/0).step(3).take(x).index x;n>0?r:-r}

Answer 3

C, 167503724710

Here's my solution to the problem. I admit it is unlikely to win a strict code golf competition, but it doesn't use any tricks to indirectly call built-in division functionality, it is written in portable C (as the original Stack Overflow question asked for), it works perfectly for negative numbers, and the code is exceptionally clear and explicit.

My program is the output of the following script:

#!/usr/bin/env python3
import sys

# 71
sys.stdout.write('''#include <stdint.h>
#include <stdio.h>
int32_t div_by_3(int32_t input){''')

# 39 * 2**32
for i in range(-2**31, 2**31):
    # 18 + 11 + 10 = 39
    sys.stdout.write('if(input==%11d)return%10d;' % (i, i / 3))

# 95
sys.stdout.write(r'''return 7;}int main(int c,char**v){int32_t n=atoi(a[1]);printf("%d / 3 = %d\n",n, div_by_3(n));}''')

Character count: 71 + 39 * 2**32 + 95 = 167503724710

Benchmarks

It was asked how long this would take and how much memory it would use, so here are some benchmarks:

• Script execution time — Running ./test.py | pv --buffer-size=1M --average-rate > /dev/null for about 30 seconds gives a rate of about 14.8 MB/s. The rate of output can reasonably be assumed to be roughly constant, so the running time to completion should be about 167503724710 B / (14.8 * 1048576 B/s) ≈ 10794 s.
• Compilation time — The TCC compiler claims to compile C code at 29.6 MB/s, which makes for a compilation time of 167503724710 B / (29.6 * 1048576 B/s) ≈ 5397 s. (Of course this can run in a pipeline with the script.)
• Size of compiled code — I tried estimating it using ./test.py | tcc -c - -o /dev/stdout | pv --buffer-size=1M --average-rate > /dev/null, but it seems tcc doesn't output anything until it reads the entire source file in.
• Memory usage to run — Since the algorithm is linear (and tcc doesn't optimize across lines), the memory overhead should be only a few kilobytes (apart from the code itself, of course).

Answer 4

Python, 41 38

print"-"[x:]+`len(xrange(2,abs(x),3))`

xrange seems to be able to handle large numbers (I think the limit is the same as for a long in C) almost instantly.

>>> x = -72
-24

>>> x = 9223372036854775806
3074457345618258602

Answer 5

C 83 characters

The number to divide is passed in through stdin, and it returns it as the exit code from main() (%ERRORLEVEL% in CMD). This code abuses some versions of MinGW in that when optimizations aren't on, it treats the last assignment value as a return statement. It can probably be reduced a bit. Supports all numbers that can fit in to an int

If unary negate (-) is not permitted: (129)

I(unsigned a){a=a&1?I(a>>1)<<1:a|1;}main(a,b,c){scanf("%i",&b);a=b;a=a<0?a:I(~a);for(c=0;a<~1;a=I(I(I(a))))c=I(c);b=b<0?I(~c):c;}

If unary negate IS permitted: (123)

I(unsigned a){a=a&1?I(a>>1)<<1:a|1;}main(a,b,c){scanf("%i",&b);a=b;a=a<0?a:-a;for(c=0;a<~1;a=I(I(I(a))))c=I(c);b=b<0?-c:c;}

EDIT: ugoren pointed out to me that -~ is an increment...

83 Characters if unary negate is permitted :D

main(a,b,c){scanf("%i",&b);a=b;a=a<0?a:-a;for(c=0;a<~1;a=-~-~-~a)c=-~c;b=b<0?-c:c;}

Answer 6

C, 160 chars

Character by character long division solution using lookup tables, i.e. without string atoi() or printf() to convert between base 10 strings and integers.

Output will sometimes include a leading zero - part of it's charm.

main(int n,char**a){
char*s=a[1],*x=0;
if(*s==45)s=&s[1];
for(;*s;s=&s[1])n=&x[*s&15],x="036"[(int)x],*s=&x["000111222333"[n]&3],x="012012012012"[n]&3;
puts(a[1]);
}

Note:

• abuses array access to implement addition.
• compiles with clang 4.0, other compilers may barf.

Testing:

./a.out -6            -2
./a.out -5            -1
./a.out -4            -1
./a.out -3            -1
./a.out -2            -0
./a.out -1            -0
./a.out 0             0
./a.out 1             0
./a.out 2             0
./a.out 3             1
./a.out 4             1
./a.out 5             1
./a.out 6             2
./a.out 42            14
./a.out 2011          0670

Answer 7

Haskell, 90 106

d n=snd.head.dropWhile((/=n).fst)$zip([0..]>>=ν)([0..]>>=replicate 3>>=ν);ν q=[negate q,q]

Creates an infinite (lazy) lookup list [(0,0),(0,0),(-1,0),(1,0),(-2,0),(2,0),(-3,-1),(3,1), ...], trims all elements that don't match n (/= is inequality in Haskell) and returns the first which does.

This gets much simpler if there are no negative numbers:

25 27

(([0..]>>=replicate 3)!!)

simply returns the nth element of the list [0,0,0,1,1,1,2, ...].

Answer 8

C, 139 chars

t;A(a,b){return a?A((a&b)<<1,a^b):b;}main(int n,char**a){n=atoi(a[1]);for(n=A(n,n<0?2:1);n&~3;t=A(n>>2,t),n=A(n>>2,n&3));printf("%d\n",t);}

Run with number as command line argument

• Handles both negative and positive numbers

Testing:

 ./a.out -6            -2
 ./a.out -5            -1
 ./a.out -4            -1
 ./a.out -3            -1
 ./a.out -2            0
 ./a.out -1            0
 ./a.out 0             0
 ./a.out 1             0
 ./a.out 2             0
 ./a.out 3             1
 ./a.out 4             1
 ./a.out 5             1
 ./a.out 6             2
 ./a.out 42            14
 ./a.out 2011          670

Edits:

• saved 10 chars by shuffling addition (A) to remove local variables.

Answer 9

Python 42

int(' -'[x<0]+str(len(range(2,abs(x),3))))

Since every solution posted here that Ive checked truncates decimals here is my solution that does that.

Python 50 51

int(' -'[x<0]+str(len(range([2,0][x<0],abs(x),3))))

Since python does floor division, here is my solution that implements that.

Input integer is in the variable x.

Tested in Python 2.7 but I suspect it works in 3 as well.

Answer 10

JavaScript, 55

alert(parseInt((~~prompt()).toString(3).slice(0,-1),3))

If one can't use -1, then here is a version replacing it with ~0 (thanks Peter Taylor!).

alert(parseInt((~~prompt()).toString(3).slice(0,~0),3))

Answer 11

JavaScript, 56

alert(Array(-~prompt()).join().replace(/,,,/g,1).length)

Makes a string of length n of repeating ,s and replaces ,,, with 1. Then, it measures the string's resulting length. (Hopefully unary - is allowed!)

Answer 12

Python 2.x, 54 53 51

print' -'[x<0],len(range(*(2,-2,x,x,3,-3)[x<0::2]))

Where _ is the dividend and is entered as such.

>>> x=-19
>>> print' -'[x<0],len(range(*(2,-2,x,x,3,-3)[x<0::2]))
- 6

Note: Not sure if using the interactive interpreter is allowed, but according to the OP: "Input can be on STDIN or ARGV or entered any other way"

Edit: Now for python 3 (works in 2.x, but prints a tuple). Works with negatives.

Answer 13

C# 232

My first code golf... And since there wasn't any C# and I wanted to try a different method not tried here, thought I would give it a shot. Like some others here, only non-negative numbers.

class l:System.Collections.Generic.List<int>{}class p{static void Main(string[] g){int n=int.Parse(g[0]);l b,a=new l();b=new l();while(a.Count<n)a.Add(1);while(a.Count>2){a.RemoveRange(0,3);b.Add(1);}System.Console.Write(b.Count);}}

Answer 14

Python2.6 (29)(71)(57)(52)(43)

z=len(range(2,abs(x),3))
print (z,-z)[x<0]

print len(range(2,input(),3))

Edit - Just realized that we have to handle negative integers too. Will fix that later

Edit2 - Fixed

Edit3 - Saved 5 chars by following Joel Cornett's advice

Edit4 - Since input doesn't have to be necessarily be from STDIN or ARGV, saved 9 chars by not taking any input from stdin

Answer 15

ZSH — 31 20/21

echo {2..x..3}|wc -w

For negative numbers:

echo {-2..x..3}|wc -w

With negative numbers (ZSH + bc) — 62 61

I probably shouldn't give two programs as my answer, so here's one that works for any sign of number:

echo 'obase=10;ibase=3;'`echo 'obase=3;x'|bc|sed 's/.$//'`|bc

This uses the same base conversion trick as Artem Ice's answer.

Answer 16

Golfscript - 13 chars

~3base);3base

Answer 17

C, 81 73 chars

Supports non-negative numbers only.

char*x,*i;
main(){
    for(scanf("%d",&x);x>2;x=&x[~2])i=&i[1];
    printf("%d",i);
}

Answer 18

Ruby (43 22)

Not only golf, but elegance also :)

p Rational gets.to_i,3

Output will be like (41/1). If it must be integer then we must add .to_i to result, and if we change to_i to to_f then we will can get output for floats also.

Answer 19

C++, 191

With main and includes, its 246, without main and includes, it's only 178. Newlines count as 1 character. Treats all numbers as unsigned. I don't get warnings for having main return an unsigned int so its fair game.

My first ever codegolf submission.

#include<iostream>
#define R return
typedef unsigned int U;U a(U x,U y){R y?a(x^y,(x|y^x^y)<<1):x;}U d(U i){if(i==3)R 1;U t=i&3,r=i>>=2;t=a(t,i&3);while(i>>=2)t=a(t,i&3),r=a(r,i);R r&&t?a(r,d(t)):0;}U main(){U i;std::cin>>i,std::cout<<d(i);R 0;}

uses shifts to divide number by 4 repeatedly, and calculates sum (which converges to 1/3)

Pseudocode:

// typedefs and #defines for brevity

function a(x, y):
    magically add x and y using recursion and bitwise things
    return x+y.

function d(x):
    if x = 3:
        return 1.
    variable total, remainder
    until x is zero:
        remainder = x mod 4
        x = x / 4
        total = total + x
    if total and remainder both zero:
        return 0.
    else:
        return a(total, d(remainder)).

As an aside, I could eliminate the main method by naming d main and making it take a char ** and using the programs return value as the output. It will return the number of command line arguments divided by three, rounded down. This brings its length to the advertised 191:

#define R return
typedef unsigned int U;U a(U x,U y){R y?a(x^y,(x|y^x^y)<<1):x;}U main(U i,char**q){if(i==3)R 1;U t=i&3,r=i>>=2;t=a(t,i&3);while(i>>=2)t=a(t,i&3),r=a(r,i);R r&&t?a(r,d(t)):0;}

Answer 20

Clojure, 87; works with negatives; based on lazyseqs

(defn d[n](def r(nth(apply interleave(repeat 3(range)))(Math/abs n)))(if(> n 0)r(- r)))

Ungolfed:

(defn d [n]
  (let [r (nth (->> (range) (repeat 3) (apply interleave))
               (Math/abs n))]
        (if (pos? n)
          r
          (- r))))

Answer 21

Javascript, 47 29

Uses eval to dynamically generate a /. Uses + only for string concatenation, not addition.

alert(eval(prompt()+"\57"+3))

EDIT: Used "\57" instead of String.fromCharCode(47)

Answer 22

Sage Notebook (21)

ZZ(n.digits(3)[1:],3)

Answer 23

Perl (26)

say s|333||g for"3"x shift

This version (ab)uses Perl's regex engine. It reads a number as command line argument (shift) and builds a string of 3s of this length ("3" x $number). The regex substitution operator (s///, here written with different delimitiers because of the puzzle's rules and with a global flag) substitues three characters by the empty string and returns the number of substitutions, which is the input number integer-divided by three. It could even be written without 3, but the above version looks funnier.

$ perl -E 'say s|sss||g for"s"x shift' 42
14

Answer 24

PowerShell 57 or 46

In 57 characters using % as the PowerShell foreach operator, not modulo. This solution can accept positive or negative integers.

(-join(1..(Read-Host)|%{1})-replace111,0-replace1).Length

In 46 characters if * is allowed as the string repetition operator, not multiply. This option requires positive integers as input values.

("1"*(Read-Host)-replace111,0-replace1).Length

Answer 25

Mathematica 36 51 42 chars

This handles any integer, n:

Sign@n*Most@IntegerDigits[n,3]~FromDigits~3

---

Hors Concours

Here's a shorter (12 char) approach that would appear to violate the spirit of the challenge. It returns the rational number "n over three". It appears as a fraction in reduced terms.

n~Rational~3

And this (28 chars) returns the fraction "n over three" (without simplifying). n and 3 are automatically converted to strings.

DisplayForm@FractionBox[n, 3]

Answer 26

Python 25

print input().__div__(3)

This is trivially easy for some languages.

Answer 27

32 characters in Burlesque:

0\/r@{1\/.-<-2\/.-<-}{L[1.>}w!-]

assuming the number to divide is already on the stack. (see here in action).

How does it work? It generates a list of numbers 0..n and then removes one from the left and two from the right until only one number is left. Of course this method only works with numbers that are divisible by 3.

Answer 28

/* For the given integer find the position of MSB */
int find_msb_loc(unsigned int n)
{
    if (n == 0)
        return 0;

    int loc = sizeof(n)  * 8 - 1;
    while (!(n & (1 << loc)))
        loc--;
    return loc;
}


/* Assume both a and b to be positive, return a/b */
int divide_bitwise(const unsigned int a, const unsigned int b)
{
    int int_size = sizeof(unsigned int) * 8;
    int b_msb_loc = find_msb_loc(b);

    int d = 0; // dividend
    int r = 0; // reminder
    int t_a = a;
    int t_a_msb_loc = find_msb_loc(t_a);
    int t_b = b << (t_a_msb_loc - b_msb_loc);

    int i;
    for(i = t_a_msb_loc; i >= b_msb_loc; i--)  {
        if (t_a > t_b) {
            d = (d << 1) | 0x1;
            t_a -= t_b; // Not a bitwise operatiion
            t_b = t_b >> 1;
         }
        else if (t_a == t_b) {
            d = (d << 1) | 0x1;
            t_a = 0;
        }
        else { // t_a < t_b
            d = d << 1;
            t_b = t_b >> 1;
        }
    }

    r = t_a;
    printf("==> %d %d\n", d, r);
    return d;
}

Answer 29

Perl using an eval to compute a string version of x/3.

Perl 5.8 Version

print eval join' ','int',$ARGV[0],map{chr}47,51

Perl 5.10 Version

say print eval join' ','int',$ARGV[0],map{chr}47,51