# Newbie! Programming Calculations **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [April 2, 2006, 1:38am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newbie-programming-calculations/56637 "2006-04-02T01:38:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Indifferent](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/f6c823/32.png) [@Indifferent](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Indifferent)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2006, 1:38am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newbie-programming-calculations/56637/1 "2006-04-02T01:38:07Z")
Im new to programming, im learning ruby. Here is the guide I am working through: [http://pine.fm/LearnToProgram/?Chapter=01](http://pine.fm/LearnToProgram/?Chapter=01) At the bottom of the page there are these sample calculations: puts 5 \* (12-8) + -15 (is that + minus15 or does the + and the - mean something combined? same for the one below with \* and -52) puts 98 + (59872 / (13\*8)) \* -52 What do they do? What are the brackets for? I sort of remember doing something simular to this when I was using excel in a course i did. Is the number is the brackets calculated first? Can someone explain this to me? Or give me a link were I can find more information. Extreamly confused newbie! Please help! ---
**Author:** ![Indifferent](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/f6c823/32.png) [@Indifferent](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Indifferent)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2006, 1:55am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newbie-programming-calculations/56637/2 "2006-04-02T01:55:46Z")
Ruby follow the laws of math. That means the a + multiplied by a - (which is really what ± means, but it’s just not written that way) will result in a -. That leads to: ±15 = -15. Here is the a thumb rule for remembering what the parentheses (brackets) are for, that I learned in one of my first years with math: When a calculation is inside a parenthesis it is saying: “Calculate me first!” When doing really advanced calculations, it’s a good idea to put a lot of parentheses so that the computer and you agree on which mathematical operations are to be done first. If you want more info, on this particular subject, you should try googling for math rather than ruby. 2006/4/2, Indifferent [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid): ---
**Author:** ![Indifferent](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/f6c823/32.png) [@Indifferent](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Indifferent)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2006, 2:04am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newbie-programming-calculations/56637/3 "2006-04-02T02:04:55Z")
Indifferent wrote: > Im new to programming, im learning ruby. > > Here is the guide I am working through: > [Numbers - Learn to Program](http://pine.fm/LearnToProgram/?Chapter=01) > > At the bottom of the page there are these sample calculations: > puts 5 \* (12-8) + -15 (is that + minus15 or does the + and the - mean > something combined? same for the one below with \* and -52) > puts 98 + (59872 / (13\*8)) \* -52 > > What do they do? What are the brackets for? > I sort of remember doing something simular to this when I was using > excel in a course i did. Is the number is the brackets calculated first? > Can someone explain this to me? Or give me a link were I can find more > information. > > Extreamly confused newbie! Please help! Just like in math, the parentheses indicate what happens first. The inner-most parentheses are calculated first. An expression like: 98 + 59872 / 13 \* 8 \* -52 is evaluated as: 59872 / 13 = 4605 4605 \* 8 = 36840 36840 \* -52 = -1915680 -1915680 + 98 = -1915582 Compared to: 98 + (59872 / (13\*8)) \* -52 Which is evaluated as: 13 \* 8 = 104 59872 / 104 = 575 575 \* -52 = -29900 -29900 + 98 = -29802 The difference in order of evaluation is due to the parentheses. Hopefully that helps… -Justin ---
**Author:** ![Indifferent](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/f6c823/32.png) [@Indifferent](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Indifferent)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2006, 2:14am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newbie-programming-calculations/56637/4 "2006-04-02T02:14:12Z")
Indifferent wrote: > What do they do? What are the brackets for? > I sort of remember doing something simular to this when I was using > excel in a course i did. Is the number is the brackets calculated first? > Can someone explain this to me? Or give me a link were I can find more > information. > > Extreamly confused newbie! Please help! When you have an expression that uses more than one arithmetic operator, such as 6 + 12 / 3, it’s not always obvious which operations should be performed first. Should we add 6 and 12 first, or divide 12 by 3 and then add 6? Ruby follows a couple of very simple rules in this case. Rule 1: First do all the multiplications and divisions, then all the additions and subtractions. Rule 2: If there are more than 1 multiplication or division, or more than one addition or subtraction, do them from left to right. So, for 6 + 12 / 3, Ruby divides 12 by 3 first, which gives it 4, and then adds 6 and 4, so the result is 10. Now it’s possible that you may want Ruby to actually add 6 and 12 and then divide the result by 3, so Ruby gives you a way to tell it to do it that way. To do this, enclose 6 + 12 in parentheses: (6 + 12) / 3. Ruby will do the addition, getting 18, and then divide 18 / 3, giving 6. You can nest the parentheses, in which case the most deeply nested expressions are evaluated first: ((3+5)/2)+6 means “add 3 and 5, divide by 2, and add 6”. For rule 2, given the expression 24 / 2 \* 3, since division and multiplication are equally “important,” Ruby just goes left to right. First it divides 24 / 2, giving 12, then multiplies by 3, giving 36. Similarly, for 12 + 3 - 5, Ruby adds 12 and 3, giving 15, and then subtracts 5, giving 10. Regarding -15, or -52, consider that most arithmetic operations are “binary,” that is, the operation produces a result by combining two numbers. However, we can say that a number is negative by preceding it with a minus sign. The minus sign is called a “unary” operator. That is, it produces its result from only one number. Since a unary minus sign negates the number it precedes, 25 + =15 adds a negative 15 to 25, which is the same as subtracting 15 from 25. ---
**Author:** ![Indifferent](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/f6c823/32.png) [@Indifferent](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Indifferent)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2006, 2:13am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newbie-programming-calculations/56637/5 "2006-04-02T02:13:51Z")
Justin C. wrote: > Just like in math, the parentheses indicate what happens first. The > inner-most parentheses are calculated first. > > An expression like: > > 98 + 59872 / 13 \* 8 \* -52 > > is evaluated as: > > 59872 / 13 = 4605 > > 4605 \* 8 = 36840 > > 36840 \* -52 = -1915680 > > -1915680 + 98 = -1915582 > > Compared to: > > 98 + (59872 / (13\*8)) \* -52 > > Which is evaluated as: > > 13 \* 8 = 104 > > 59872 / 104 = 575 > > 575 \* -52 = -29900 > > -29900 + 98 = -29802 > > The difference in order of evaluation is due to the parentheses. > > Hopefully that helps… > > -Justin Cool thank you for the explanations guys 🙂 One more thing: In your example 98 + (59872 / (13\*8)) \* -52 Why is -52 calculation done after the brackets are closed? How come the +98 was done last? ---
**Author:** ![Indifferent](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/f6c823/32.png) [@Indifferent](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Indifferent)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2006, 2:41am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newbie-programming-calculations/56637/6 "2006-04-02T02:41:08Z")
So are these calculations correct: how many hours are in a year? = puts (7\* (60_24)) 52 how many minutes are in a decade? = puts (7 (60_24)) \*52 _10 how many seconds old are you? = puts 7_ (_24(60_60)) \*20 (that wrong) how many chocolates do you hope to eat in your life? (joke?) :S If I am 936 million seconds old, how old am I? (no clue) Anyone care to clear it up for me? ---
**Author:** ![Indifferent](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/f6c823/32.png) [@Indifferent](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Indifferent)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2006, 2:51am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newbie-programming-calculations/56637/7 "2006-04-02T02:51:37Z")
Indifferent wrote: > Justin C. wrote: > > > Just like in math, the parentheses indicate what happens first. The > > inner-most parentheses are calculated first. > > > > An expression like: > > > > 98 + 59872 / 13 \* 8 \* -52 > > > > is evaluated as: > > > > 59872 / 13 = 4605 > > > > 4605 \* 8 = 36840 > > > > 36840 \* -52 = -1915680 > > > > -1915680 + 98 = -1915582 > > > > Compared to: > > > > 98 + (59872 / (13\*8)) \* -52 > > > > Which is evaluated as: > > > > 13 \* 8 = 104 > > > > 59872 / 104 = 575 > > > > 575 \* -52 = -29900 > > > > -29900 + 98 = -29802 > > > > The difference in order of evaluation is due to the parentheses. > > > > Hopefully that helps… > > > > -Justin > > Cool thank you for the explanations guys 🙂 > > One more thing: > In your example > 98 + (59872 / (13\*8)) \* -52 > > Why is -52 calculation done after the brackets are closed? > How come the +98 was done last? There is a thing (which other posts here mention) called operator precedence. Some operators come before others. If the operators have the same precedence, then it goes left to right. Here’s an abbreviated precedence order for Ruby (from the Pickaxe, I can’t find it online) from highest to lowest (first to last): \*\* (exponent) - - ``` (unary plus and minus, positive and negative) ``` - / % (multiplication, division, modulo) - - ``` (addition, subtraction) ``` So that’s why -52 is ‘negative fifty-two’ and then it is multiplied. And why + 98 comes last. Some more general information here: > **[Order of operations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operator_precedence)** > > In mathematics and computer programming, the order of operations (or operator precedence) is a collection of rules that reflect conventions about which procedures to perform first in order to evaluate a given mathematical expression. > For example, in mathematics and most computer languages, multiplication is granted a higher precedence than addition, and it has been this way since the introduction of modern algebraic notation. Thus, the expression 1 + 2 × 3 is interpreted to have the value 1 + ... -Justin ---
**Author:** ![Indifferent](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/f6c823/32.png) [@Indifferent](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Indifferent)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2006, 4:46am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newbie-programming-calculations/56637/8 "2006-04-02T04:46:36Z")
On Sun, 2 Apr 2006 09:41:14 +0900, Indifferent [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > If I am 936 million seconds old, how old am I? (no clue) > > Anyone care to clear it up for me? Just start converting up: seconds → minutes → hours → days → weeks → years 936,000,000 seconds / 60 = 15,600,000 minutes 15,600,000 minutes / 60 = 260,000 hours 260,000 hours / 24 = 10,833.33 days 10,833.33 days / 7 = 1547.61 weeks 1547.61 weeks / 52 = 29.76 years which equals: 936,000,000 / 60 / 60 /24 / 7 / 52 = 29.76 Or if you want to be a little bit more precise 936,000,000 / 60 / 60 /24 / 365.25 = 29.66 ---
**Author:** ![Indifferent](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/f6c823/32.png) [@Indifferent](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Indifferent)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2006, 4:12am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newbie-programming-calculations/56637/9 "2006-04-02T04:12:59Z")
You don’t really need to make parentheses when you are only doing multiplication, because it does not matter in which order you do them. Here is a clue: You just found out how many seconds you are old, by multiplying with certain numbers. These number will help you find his age through division. Example: 936000000/60 This will give you his age in minutes. 2006/4/2, Indifferent [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid):