Basically the reverse of the mutliply by shift and add.

Set quotient to 0 Align leftmost digits in dividend and divisor Repeat If that portion of the dividend above the divisor is greater than or equal to the divisor Then subtract divisor from that portion of the dividend and Concatentate 1 to the right hand end of the quotient Else concatentate 0 to the right hand end of the quotient Shift the divisor one place right Until dividend is less than the divisor quotient is correct, dividend is remainder STOP

QUESTION:

What is the average number of operations needed to complete each of these algorithms, assuming the dividend has m digits in the representation and the divisor has n digits?

ADVANCED CONSIDERATION:

Modify this algorithm to produce the fractional part of the quotient.

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Last updated 2000/05/15
© J.A.N. Lee, 2000.