Operator MOD

[SMcNeill]

Nice! That's a keeper.

I wish I had your math teacher in high school. Well, not really. Mine had big boobs. She probably taught that MOD trick, but I probably missed it because I was too busy concentrating on the power of 2.

Pete

I remember those days of 58008 glory.  

When you think about it, the Negative MOD of a number has to be the same as the positive MOD.

After all, how do you get MOD to begin with??   Repetitive subtraction!

27 MOD 5
27 - 5
22 - 5
17 - 5
12 - 5
 7 - 5
 2 - 5...   can't subtract so 2 is the answer.

27 MOD -5
27 + -5 
22 + -5
17 + -5
12 + -5
7 + -5
2 + -5....  can't add so 2 is the answer.

Subtract one... add the other...  The trick is to always approach zero.  As D.J. Keith stressed for us, "that + and - is just *direction* you're traveling in."  

In this case, you always want to travel towards 0, to find your answer.

(X MOD Y)= (X MOD -Y)...   They're basically the same, as far as I can tell.