From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Oct 23 04:26:51 2012 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [69.147.83.52]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0F554285 for ; Tue, 23 Oct 2012 04:26:51 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from kline@thought.org) Received: from smtpout07.prod.mesa1.secureserver.net (smtpout07-01.prod.mesa1.secureserver.net [64.202.165.230]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with SMTP id C62618FC08 for ; Tue, 23 Oct 2012 04:26:50 +0000 (UTC) Received: (qmail 15970 invoked from network); 23 Oct 2012 04:20:09 -0000 Received: from unknown (209.180.213.209) by smtpout07.prod.mesa1.secureserver.net (64.202.165.230) with ESMTP; 23 Oct 2012 04:20:08 -0000 Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2012 21:20:07 -0700 From: Gary Kline To: FreeBSD Mailing List Subject: way way off topic Message-ID: <20121023042007.GA14738@ethic.thought.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.21 (2010-09-15) X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2012 04:26:51 -0000 apologies up front for this math type quandary. I had it in a std C program, but 3+ hours of grepping havent found it. I would have bet my last cent that I had a summary Somewhere, but cant find that either. here is the problem as best I can remember it. let's say that john is 8 and his older friend, jim, is 22. how much older is exact percentage terms is jim? to find the answer I had to find the relative difference {22 - 8} and then do something with the difference. this isn't any kind of trick or "advanced-cognition"; I just thought it was clever [and exact]. it obviously works for finding the abs() results in subtraction. it's something I found on the web and swipes and save the prose discussion. BZZT: Lost, :-( if this seems dumb, I plead guilty! im asking here because -questions is the sharpest list on the net. -- Gary Kline kline@thought.org http://www.thought.org Public Service Unix Twenty-six years of service to the Unix community.