5.2. Basic Operations on NumbersThe normal operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division are implemented in Ruby much as in the typical programming language with the operators +, -, *, and /. Most of the operators are actually methods (and therefore can be overridden). Exponentiation (raising to a power) is done with the ** operator as in older languages such as BASIC and FORTRAN. It obeys the "normal" mathematical laws of exponentiation. a = 64**2 # 4096 b = 64**0.5 # 8.0 c = 64**0 # 1 d = 64**-1 # 0.015625 Division of one integer by another results in a truncated integer. This is a feature, not a bug. If you need a floating point number, make sure that at least one operand is a floating point. 3 / 3 # 3 5 / 3 # 1 3 / 4 # 0 3.0 / 4 # 0.75 3 / 4.0 # 0.75 3.0 / 4.0 # 0.75 If you are using variables and are in doubt about the division, Float or to_f will ensure that an operand is a floating point number. z = x.to_f / y z = Float(x) / y See also section 5.17 "Performing Bit-level Operations on Numbers." |