From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Oct 23 22:54:31 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 4BB34900 for ; Tue, 23 Oct 2012 22:54:31 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from kline@thought.org) Received: from p3plsmtpa06-06.prod.phx3.secureserver.net (p3plsmtpa06-06.prod.phx3.secureserver.net [173.201.192.107]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 240178FC08 for ; Tue, 23 Oct 2012 22:54:31 +0000 (UTC) Received: from ethic.thought.org ([209.180.213.209]) by p3plsmtpa06-06.prod.phx3.secureserver.net with id Emru1k00D4XeM0101mrvYw; Tue, 23 Oct 2012 15:51:55 -0700 Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2012 15:51:54 -0700 From: Gary Kline To: Erich Dollansky Subject: Re: way way off topic Message-ID: <20121023225154.GE29440@ethic.thought.org> References: <20121023042007.GA14738@ethic.thought.org> <20121023113436.6748c811@X220.ovitrap.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20121023113436.6748c811@X220.ovitrap.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.21 (2010-09-15) Cc: FreeBSD Mailing List 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 22:54:31 -0000 On Tue, Oct 23, 2012 at 11:34:36AM +0700, Erich Dollansky wrote: > Hi, > > On Mon, 22 Oct 2012 21:20:07 -0700 > Gary Kline wrote: > > > > > 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, :-( > > > It seems that I am also lost. What should abs() do here? > > I would multiply the age of john and the difference with 100 and then > divide the result to get the percentage. > > Or did I get lost here? > > > if this seems dumb, I plead guilty! > > > > im asking here because -questions is the sharpest list on the net. > > > > Are you sure? > > Erich LOL. yes! it's been years since I used the steps to find the accurant amount of difference. it may not have involved a %. I can only think of one concrete example. lets say that x == 15 and y == 16. Q: how much less is x than y? it is not just "1"; there was some other way of finding the answer. -- Gary Kline kline@thought.org http://www.thought.org Public Service Unix Twenty-six years of service to the Unix community.