I am trying to replace the number 18 in 1e18 with a variable but everything I have tried gives an error. Perhaps if I knew what it does I can be able to write the formula myself differently.
What does the letter 3 do to a number. How can I apply it to a variable called, say, X?
How different is e from **
what does the number 1e18 in ruby mean?
1e18 (or 1E18) is a number literal using E-notation. Ruby interprets this number as a floating point number with the value 1 × 1018 (i.e. 1,000,000,000,000,000,000).
I am trying to replace the number 18 in 1e18 with a variable
1e18 is equivalent to:
1.0 * 10 ** 18
#=> 1.0e+18
so you can write:
x = 18
1.0 * 10 ** x
#=> 1.0e+18
or simply:
10.0 ** x
#=> 1.0e+18
How different is e from **
The result is the same, but 1e18 – being a literal – is evaluated by the parser whereas ** is a method call.
As Sami's comment mentions:
1e18 is a scientific notation meaning 1 * 10^18
Read more about the number here
How to work with such numbers in Ruby?
Here's a simple example:
require 'bigdecimal'
a = BigDecimal.new "1e18"
#=> #<BigDecimal:2cf0880,'0.1E19',9(18)>
a.to_f
#=> 1.0e+18
a.to_s
#=> "0.1E19" # notice 0.1E19 and not 1.0E19
"%f" % a
#=> "1000000000000000000.000000"
("%f" % a).to_i
#=> 1000000000000000000
Related
I tried SecureRandom.random_number(9**6) but it sometimes returns 5 and sometimes 6 numbers. I'd want it to be a length of 6 consistently. I would also prefer it in the format like SecureRandom.random_number(9**6) without using syntax like 6.times.map so that it's easier to be stubbed in my controller test.
You can do it with math:
(SecureRandom.random_number(9e5) + 1e5).to_i
Then verify:
100000.times.map do
(SecureRandom.random_number(9e5) + 1e5).to_i
end.map { |v| v.to_s.length }.uniq
# => [6]
This produces values in the range 100000..999999:
10000000.times.map do
(SecureRandom.random_number(9e5) + 1e5).to_i
end.minmax
# => [100000, 999999]
If you need this in a more concise format, just roll it into a method:
def six_digit_rand
(SecureRandom.random_number(9e5) + 1e5).to_i
end
To generate a random, 6-digit string:
# This generates a 6-digit string, where the
# minimum possible value is "000000", and the
# maximum possible value is "999999"
SecureRandom.random_number(10**6).to_s.rjust(6, '0')
Here's more detail of what's happening, shown by breaking the single line into multiple lines with explaining variables:
# Calculate the upper bound for the random number generator
# upper_bound = 1,000,000
upper_bound = 10**6
# n will be an integer with a minimum possible value of 0,
# and a maximum possible value of 999,999
n = SecureRandom.random_number(upper_bound)
# Convert the integer n to a string
# unpadded_str will be "0" if n == 0
# unpadded_str will be "999999" if n == 999999
unpadded_str = n.to_s
# Pad the string with leading zeroes if it is less than
# 6 digits long.
# "0" would be padded to "000000"
# "123" would be padded to "000123"
# "999999" would not be padded, and remains unchanged as "999999"
padded_str = unpadded_str.rjust(6, '0')
Docs to Ruby SecureRand, lot of cool tricks here.
Specific to this question I would say: (SecureRandom.random_number * 1000000).to_i
Docs: random_number(n=0)
If 0 is given or an argument is not given, ::random_number returns a float: 0.0 <= ::random_number < 1.0.
Then multiply by 6 decimal places (* 1000000) and truncate the decimals (.to_i)
If letters are okay, I prefer .hex:
SecureRandom.hex(3) #=> "e15b05"
Docs:
hex(n=nil)
::hex generates a random hexadecimal string.
The argument n specifies the length, in bytes, of the random number to
be generated. The length of the resulting hexadecimal string is twice
n.
If n is not specified or is nil, 16 is assumed. It may be larger in
future.
The result may contain 0-9 and a-f.
Other options:
SecureRandom.uuid #=> "3f780c86-6897-457e-9d0b-ef3963fbc0a8"
SecureRandom.urlsafe_base64 #=> "UZLdOkzop70Ddx-IJR0ABg"
For Rails apps creating a barcode or uid with an object you can do something like this in the object model file:
before_create :generate_barcode
def generate_barcode
begin
return if self.barcode.present?
self.barcode = SecureRandom.hex.upcase
end while self.class.exists?(barcode: barcode)
end
SecureRandom.random_number(n) gives a random value between 0 to n. You can achieve it using rand function.
2.3.1 :025 > rand(10**5..10**6-1)
=> 742840
rand(a..b) gives a random number between a and b. Here, you always get a 6 digit random number between 10^5 and 10^6-1.
I need to do integer division. I expect the following to return 2 instead of the actual 1:
187 / 100 # => 1
This:
(187.to_f / 100).round # => 2
will work, but does't seem elegant as a solution. Isn't there an integer-only operator that does 187 / 100 = 2?
EDIT
I'll be clearer on my use case since I keep getting down-voted:
I need to calculate taxes on a price. All my prices are in cents. There is nothing below 1 cent in the accountability world so I need to make sure all my prices are integers (those people checking taxes don't like mistakes... really!)
But on the other hand, the tax rate is 19%.
So I wanted to find the best way to write:
def tax_price(price)
price * TAX_RATE / 100
end
that surely returns an integer, without any floating side effect.
I was afraid of going to the floating world because it has very weird side-effects on number representation like:
Ruby strange issue with floating point multiplication
ruby floating point errors
So I found it safer to stay in the integer or the fractional world, hence my question.
You can do it while remaining in the integer world as follows:
def round_div(x,y)
(x + y / 2) / y
end
If you prefer, you could monkey-patch Fixnum with a variant of this:
class Fixnum
def round_div(divisor)
(self + divisor / 2) / divisor
end
end
187.round_div(100) # => 2
No – (a.to_f / b.to_f).round is the canonical way to do it. The behavior of integer / integer is (for example) defined in the C standard as "discarding the remainder" (see http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg14/www/docs/n1124.pdf page 82) and ruby uses the native C function.
This is a less know method, Numeric#fdiv
You use it like this : 187.fdiv(100).round
Not sure, but this might be what you have in mind.
q, r = 187.divmod(100)
q + (100 > r * 2 ? 0 : 1) # => 2
This should work for you :
Use syntax like this.
(number.to_f/another_number).round
Example:
(18.to_f/5).round
As #MattW already answer (+1), you'd have to cast your integers to floats.
The only other way that is less distracting can be to add .0 to your integer:
(187.0 / 100).round
However, usually we don't operate on concrete integers but variables and this method would be no use.
After some thoughts, I could:
have used BigDecimals but it feels like a bazooka to kill a bird
or I can use a custom method that wouldn't use floating division within the process, as #sawa suggests
def rounded_integer_div(numerator, denominator)
q, r = numerator.divmod(denominator)
q + (100 > r * 2 ? 0 : 1)
end
If what you want is to actually only increase the result by 1 if there's any remainder (e.g. for counting paging/batching), you can use the '%' (modula operation) for remainders checking.
# to add 1 if it's not an even division
a = 187
b = 100
result = a / b #=> 1
result += 1 if (a % b).positive?
#=> 2
# or in one line
result = (a / b) + ((a % b).zero? ? 0 : 1)
I'm working on a Codewars Ruby problem, and don't understand the error I'm seeing. Here are the instructions:
Coding decimal numbers with factorials is a way of writing out numbers
in a base system that depends on factorials, rather than powers of
numbers. In this system, the last digit is always 0 and is in base 0!.
The digit before that is either 0 or 1 and is in base 1!. The digit
before that is either 0, 1, or 2 and is in base 2!. More generally,
the nth-to-last digit in always 0, 1, 2, ..., or n and is in base n!.
Example : decimal number 463 is coded as "341010"
because 463 (base 10) = 3×5! + 4×4! + 1×3! + 0×2! + 1×1! + 0×0!
If we are limited to digits 0...9 the biggest number we can code is
10! - 1.
So we extend 0..9 with letters A to Z. With these 36 digits we can
code up to 36! − 1 = 37199332678990121746799944815083519999999910
(base 10)
We code two functions, the first one will code a decimal number and
return a string with the factorial representation :
"dec2FactString(nb)"
the second one will decode a string with a factorial representation
and produce the decimal representation : "factString2Dec(str)".
Given numbers will be positive.
Note
You can hope tests with Big Integers in Clojure, Python, Ruby, Haskel
but not with Java and others where the number "nb" in
"dec2FactString(nb)" is at most a long.
Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factorial_number_system
def dec2FactString(nb)
if nb <= 0 then
num = 1
else
num = (nb * dec2FactString(nb - 1))
end
return num
end
Note that this method is only the first half of the problem. This code appears to work inasmuch as it returns the correct factorial, as a Fixnum when using this test:
Test.assert_equals(dec2FactString(4), "24")
Since the instructions ask for a string, I'd normally think that just adding ".to_s" to the num variable would take care of that, but instead I'm seeing a consistent "String can't be coerced into Fixnum (TypeError)" error message. I've tried pushing the output to an array and printing from there, but saw the same error.
I read up on Fixnum a little, and I understand the error in terms of adding a Fixnum to a string won't work, but I don't think I'm doing that in this case - I just want to convert the Fixnum output into a string. Am I missing something?
Observe - this code breaks and produces the error below it:
def dec2FactString(nb)
if nb <= 0 then
num = 1
else
num = (nb * dec2FactString(nb - 1))
end
return num.to_s
end
Example from description
`*': String can't be coerced into Fixnum (TypeError)
from `dec2FactString'
from `dec2FactString'
from `dec2FactString'
from `dec2FactString'
from `block in
'
from `block in describe'
from `measure'
from `describe'
from `
'
You're calling this function recursively. If you calculated the factorial of 1 and left to_s in there, it'd be fine since you're not reusing the variable.
However, if you do place to_s in there, what would you expect the result of num = (nb * dec2FactString(nb - 1)) to be? dec2FactString would be returning a str instead of a Fixnum, and you can't/shouldn't be able to do multiplication between a number and a string.
What you could do is split the responsibilities of stringification and calculation by creating two methods - one that delegates to the recursive function, and one that coerces its result into a string.
def dec2FactString(nb)
return fact(nb).to_s
end
def fact(nb)
if nb <= 0 then
1
else
nb * fact(nb - 1)
end
end
Firstly, Factorial is only defined on non-negative numbers and so your first test is incorrect (if nb <= 0). The recursion should stop when the number is 0 and should return 1 at that point.
Because your recursion returns a string and not a number, you cannot multiply the string by a Fixnum in the next round of recursion. Your recursion can be expanded via the substitution method to the following.
dec2FactString(5)
5 * dec2FactString(4)
5 * 4 * dec2FactString(3)
5 * 4 * 3 * dec2FactString(2)
5 * 4 * 3 * 2 * dec2FactString(1)
5 * 4 * 3 * 2 * 1 * dec2FactString(0)
5 * 4 * 3 * 2 * 1 * "1"
... That is the point where the recursion ends in an error since dec2FactString(0) returns "1"
It would be far better to break it into two functions. One that calculates factorial recursively and one that converts the final answer to a string. Also, you don't need to explicitly return a value in Ruby. The last line of a function is the return value.
I won't give you the complete code as you won't learn anything. As a few hints, do some research on tail call optimisation, recursion and return values in Ruby. This will allow you to craft a better implementation of the recursive function.
Happy coding!
In ruby-doc, it says that <Fixnum> ** <Numeric> may be fractional, and gives the examples:
2 ** -1 #=> 0.5
2 ** 0.5 #=> 1.4142135623731
but on my irb, it sometimes gives a Rational answer as with the exponent -1 below:
2 ** -1 #=> (1/2)
2 ** 0.5 #=> 1.4142135623731
It looks like ruby-doc is not accurate, and ruby tries to type cast to Rational when possible, but I am not completely sure. What is the exact type casting rule here when the base and the exponent are both Fixnum? I am particularly interested in Ruby 1.9.3, but is the result different among different versions?
DGM is right; the answer is right in the docs you linked, although it's in C. Here is pertinent bit; I've added a few comments:
static VALUE
fix_pow(VALUE x, VALUE y)
{
long a = FIX2LONG(x);
if (FIXNUM_P(y)) { // checks to see if Y is a Fixnum
long b = FIX2LONG(y);
if (b < 0)
// if b is less than zero, convert x into a Rational
// and call ** on it and 1 over y
// (this is how you raise to a negative power).
return rb_funcall(rb_rational_raw1(x), rb_intern("**"), 1, y);
Now we can move on to the docs for Rational and check what it says about the ** operator:
rat ** numeric → numeric
Performs exponentiation.
For example:
Rational(2) ** Rational(3) #=> (8/1)
Rational(10) ** -2 #=> (1/100)
Rational(10) ** -2.0 #=> 0.01
Rational(-4) ** Rational(1,2) #=> (1.2246063538223773e-16+2.0i)
Rational(1, 2) ** 0 #=> (1/1)
Rational(1, 2) ** 0.0 #=> 1.0
For example:
9 / 5 #=> 1
but I expected 1.8. How can I get the correct decimal (non-integer) result? Why is it returning 1 at all?
It’s doing integer division. You can use to_f to force things into floating-point mode:
9.to_f / 5 #=> 1.8
9 / 5.to_f #=> 1.8
This also works if your values are variables instead of literals. Converting one value to a float is sufficient to coerce the whole expression to floating point arithmetic.
It’s doing integer division. You can make one of the numbers a Float by adding .0:
9.0 / 5 #=> 1.8
9 / 5.0 #=> 1.8
There is also the Numeric#fdiv method which you can use instead:
9.fdiv(5) #=> 1.8
You can check it with irb:
$ irb
>> 2 / 3
=> 0
>> 2.to_f / 3
=> 0.666666666666667
>> 2 / 3.to_f
=> 0.666666666666667
You can include the ruby mathn module.
require 'mathn'
This way, you are going to be able to make the division normally.
1/2 #=> (1/2)
(1/2) ** 3 #=> (1/8)
1/3*3 #=> 1
Math.sin(1/2) #=> 0.479425538604203
This way, you get exact division (class Rational) until you decide to apply an operation that cannot be expressed as a rational, for example Math.sin.
Change the 5 to 5.0. You're getting integer division.
Fixnum#to_r is not mentioned here, it was introduced since ruby 1.9. It converts Fixnum into rational form. Below are examples of its uses. This also can give exact division as long as all the numbers used are Fixnum.
a = 1.to_r #=> (1/1)
a = 10.to_r #=> (10/1)
a = a / 3 #=> (10/3)
a = a * 3 #=> (10/1)
a.to_f #=> 10.0
Example where a float operated on a rational number coverts the result to float.
a = 5.to_r #=> (5/1)
a = a * 5.0 #=> 25.0