# What does /2 represent in a division calclulation ....hangs console

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-does-2-represent-in-a-division-calclulation-hangs-console/178703>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [November 9, 2009, 7:50pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-does-2-represent-in-a-division-calclulation-hangs-console/178703 "2009-11-09T19:50:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![doug](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@doug](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/doug)\
**Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 7:50pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-does-2-represent-in-a-division-calclulation-hangs-console/178703/1 "2009-11-09T19:50:36Z")

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what does /2 or /5.5 represent to ruby?

in a division caclulation: x / 5.5

if you only put a space between x and the /, then  
the console hangs  
in irb it does this:

irb(main):014:0\> x = BigDecimal(“10.00”)  
=\> #BigDecimal:31a5ccc,‘0.1E2’,4(8)  
irb(main):015:0\> x \* 5  
=\> #BigDecimal:31a3760,‘0.5E2’,4(16)  
irb(main):016:0\> x / 2  
=\> #BigDecimal:31a11a4,‘0.5E1’,4(32)  
irb(main):017:0\> x /2  
irb(main):018:0/ x/2  
=\> #BigDecimal:319e24c,‘0.5E1’,4(32)  
irb(main):019:0\> x /2.5  
irb(main):020:0/

thanks

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![doug](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@doug](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/doug)\
**Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 8:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-does-2-represent-in-a-division-calclulation-hangs-console/178703/2 "2009-11-09T20:22:54Z")

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Doug wrote:

> what does /2 or /5.5 represent to ruby?
> 
> in a division caclulation: x / 5.5
> 
> if you only put a space between x and the /, then  
> the console hangs  
> in irb it does this:
> 
> irb(main):014:0\> x = BigDecimal(“10.00”)  
> =\> #BigDecimal:31a5ccc,‘0.1E2’,4(8)  
> irb(main):015:0\> x \* 5  
> =\> #BigDecimal:31a3760,‘0.5E2’,4(16)  
> irb(main):016:0\> x / 2  
> =\> #BigDecimal:31a11a4,‘0.5E1’,4(32)  
> irb(main):017:0\> x /2  
> irb(main):018:0/ x/2  
> =\> #BigDecimal:319e24c,‘0.5E1’,4(32)  
> irb(main):019:0\> x /2.5  
> irb(main):020:0/

Looks like it thinks you’ve started a regular expression.

> thanks

## Best,

Marnen Laibow-Koser  
[http://www.marnen.org](http://www.marnen.org)  
removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid