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iOS Swift Basics (retired) Control Flow Exercise: FizzBuzz Generator

Posted by thismypro
thismypro
555 Points

Why the remainder operator(%) and not the division operator(/)?

I'm confused as to why the remainder operator is used and not the division.Thanks in advance for any help

1 Answer

Sara Chicazul
Sara Chicazul
7,475 Points

The remainder operator means you don't have to do much math to solve this problem!

Think about how the remainder operator works. It returns only the remainder from dividing one number into another. It doesn't care how big the numbers are, only if there is a remainder.

For the FizzBuzz problem, you're trying to find numbers that are evenly divisible by 3 or 5. A number is evenly divisible if there is no remainder after dividing. So if number % 3 == 0, you know that number is evenly divisible by 3, without even checking what number is equal to.

It is possible to solve the problem using the regular division operator, but you'd have to add a few extra steps to see if there is a decimal portion left over. Remainder does this in one step.

thismypro
thismypro
555 Points

thank you so much Sara.Makes great sense now.You're awesome