Explain the Remainder or Modulus Operator in Java?
Java has one significant arithmetical operator you might not be familiar with, %, also called as the modulus or remainder operator. The % operator returns the remainder of two numbers. For example 10 % 3 is 1 because 10 divided through 3 leaves a remainder of 1. You can use % only as you might use any other more general operator like + or -.
class Remainder {
public static void main (String args[]) {
int i = 10;
int j = 3;
System.out.println("i is " + i);
System.out.println("j is " + j);
int k = i % j;
System.out.println("i%j is " + k);
}
}
Here's the output:
% javac Remainder.java
% java Remainder
i is 10
j is 3
i%j is 1
Perhaps surprisingly the remainder operator could be used along with floating point values as well. It's surprising since you don't generally think of real number division as generating remainders. Therefore there are rare times while it's useful to ask exactly how several times does 1.5 go into 5.5 and what's left over? The answer is that 1.5 goes within 5.5 three times along with one left over, and it's that one that is the result of 5.5 % 1.5 in Java.