Can mathematical operators *, /, +, -, ^ be used to convert a non-zero number to 1

The name of the pictureThe name of the pictureThe name of the pictureClash Royale CLAN TAG#URR8PPP











up vote
8
down vote

favorite
1












I am working with a software (Oracle Siebel) that only supports Javascript expressions with operators multiply, divide, subtract, add, and XOR (*, /, -, +, ^). I don't have other operators such as ! or ?: available.



Using the above operators, is it possible to convert a number to 1 if it is non-zero and leave it 0 if it's already zero? The number may be positive, zero, or negative.



Example:



var c = 55;

var d; // d needs to set as 1


I tried c / c , but it evaluates to NaN when c is 0. d needs to be 0 when c is 0.



c is a currency value, it will have a maximum of two trailing digits and 12 leading digits.



I am trying to emulate an if condition by converting a number to a boolean 0 or 1, and then multiplying other parts of the expression.






javascript siebel







share|improve this question























  • Use a tertiary operator: var d = c > 0 ? 1 : 0;
    – Ibu
    1 hour ago










  • Can the number be negative?
    – Jared Goguen
    1 hour ago






  • 1




    @Ibu their runtime supports only a very limited subset of js operators
    – zerkms
    1 hour ago







  • 1




    @Phix it does not support the not (!) operator
    – dave
    57 mins ago






  • 1




    @dave storing money in floating point numbers, uh-oh
    – zerkms
    57 mins ago














up vote
8
down vote

favorite
1












I am working with a software (Oracle Siebel) that only supports Javascript expressions with operators multiply, divide, subtract, add, and XOR (*, /, -, +, ^). I don't have other operators such as ! or ?: available.



Using the above operators, is it possible to convert a number to 1 if it is non-zero and leave it 0 if it's already zero? The number may be positive, zero, or negative.



Example:



var c = 55;

var d; // d needs to set as 1


I tried c / c , but it evaluates to NaN when c is 0. d needs to be 0 when c is 0.



c is a currency value, it will have a maximum of two trailing digits and 12 leading digits.



I am trying to emulate an if condition by converting a number to a boolean 0 or 1, and then multiplying other parts of the expression.






javascript siebel







share|improve this question























  • Use a tertiary operator: var d = c > 0 ? 1 : 0;
    – Ibu
    1 hour ago










  • Can the number be negative?
    – Jared Goguen
    1 hour ago






  • 1




    @Ibu their runtime supports only a very limited subset of js operators
    – zerkms
    1 hour ago







  • 1




    @Phix it does not support the not (!) operator
    – dave
    57 mins ago






  • 1




    @dave storing money in floating point numbers, uh-oh
    – zerkms
    57 mins ago












up vote
8
down vote

favorite
1









up vote
8
down vote

favorite
1






1





I am working with a software (Oracle Siebel) that only supports Javascript expressions with operators multiply, divide, subtract, add, and XOR (*, /, -, +, ^). I don't have other operators such as ! or ?: available.



Using the above operators, is it possible to convert a number to 1 if it is non-zero and leave it 0 if it's already zero? The number may be positive, zero, or negative.



Example:



var c = 55;

var d; // d needs to set as 1


I tried c / c , but it evaluates to NaN when c is 0. d needs to be 0 when c is 0.



c is a currency value, it will have a maximum of two trailing digits and 12 leading digits.



I am trying to emulate an if condition by converting a number to a boolean 0 or 1, and then multiplying other parts of the expression.






javascript siebel







share|improve this question















I am working with a software (Oracle Siebel) that only supports Javascript expressions with operators multiply, divide, subtract, add, and XOR (*, /, -, +, ^). I don't have other operators such as ! or ?: available.



Using the above operators, is it possible to convert a number to 1 if it is non-zero and leave it 0 if it's already zero? The number may be positive, zero, or negative.



Example:



var c = 55;

var d; // d needs to set as 1


I tried c / c , but it evaluates to NaN when c is 0. d needs to be 0 when c is 0.



c is a currency value, it will have a maximum of two trailing digits and 12 leading digits.



I am trying to emulate an if condition by converting a number to a boolean 0 or 1, and then multiplying other parts of the expression.






javascript siebel




javascript siebel






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited 24 mins ago









Joseph Sible

3,755627




3,755627










asked 1 hour ago









dave

1,7211125




1,7211125











  • Use a tertiary operator: var d = c > 0 ? 1 : 0;
    – Ibu
    1 hour ago










  • Can the number be negative?
    – Jared Goguen
    1 hour ago






  • 1




    @Ibu their runtime supports only a very limited subset of js operators
    – zerkms
    1 hour ago







  • 1




    @Phix it does not support the not (!) operator
    – dave
    57 mins ago






  • 1




    @dave storing money in floating point numbers, uh-oh
    – zerkms
    57 mins ago
















  • Use a tertiary operator: var d = c > 0 ? 1 : 0;
    – Ibu
    1 hour ago










  • Can the number be negative?
    – Jared Goguen
    1 hour ago






  • 1




    @Ibu their runtime supports only a very limited subset of js operators
    – zerkms
    1 hour ago







  • 1




    @Phix it does not support the not (!) operator
    – dave
    57 mins ago






  • 1




    @dave storing money in floating point numbers, uh-oh
    – zerkms
    57 mins ago















Use a tertiary operator: var d = c > 0 ? 1 : 0;
– Ibu
1 hour ago




Use a tertiary operator: var d = c > 0 ? 1 : 0;
– Ibu
1 hour ago












Can the number be negative?
– Jared Goguen
1 hour ago




Can the number be negative?
– Jared Goguen
1 hour ago




1




1




@Ibu their runtime supports only a very limited subset of js operators
– zerkms
1 hour ago





@Ibu their runtime supports only a very limited subset of js operators
– zerkms
1 hour ago





1




1




@Phix it does not support the not (!) operator
– dave
57 mins ago




@Phix it does not support the not (!) operator
– dave
57 mins ago




1




1




@dave storing money in floating point numbers, uh-oh
– zerkms
57 mins ago




@dave storing money in floating point numbers, uh-oh
– zerkms
57 mins ago












3 Answers
3






active

oldest

votes

















up vote
7
down vote



accepted










c / (c + 5e-324) should work. If x is 0, that is exactly 0, and if x is nonzero (technically, if x is at least 4.45014771701440252e-308, which the smallest non-zero number allowed in the question, 0.01, is), JavaScript's floating-point math is too imprecise for the answer to be different than 1, so it will come out as exactly 1.






share|improve this answer






















  • s/JavaScript's floating-point math/IEEE754
    – zerkms
    56 mins ago






  • 2




    @visibleman Those won't come up per the comments
    – Jared Goguen
    55 mins ago










  • Ok, I just saw the comment now, yes this will work fine then.
    – visibleman
    55 mins ago

















up vote
9
down vote













How about the expression n/n^0?






console.log([-1, 0, 1, 19575].map(n => n/n^0))





As you can see, all non-zero values get converted to 1, and 0 stays at 0. This leverages the fact that in Javascript, NaN^0 is 0.






share|improve this answer


















  • 2




    TIL: Number.NaN ^ n === n o_O (where n is a finite number)
    – zerkms
    27 mins ago











  • It seems that when used as a bitwise operand, NaN is conveniently converted to zero. See: Bitwise operations on non numbers
    – CRice
    21 mins ago

















up vote
-2
down vote













Interesting problem. Here's a revised approach. First, let us create an OR function, which we can do with two XORs and an add. The first XOR gets all the differences between x and y while the second XOR isolates the differences in y from x. We can then add those differences to x, giving us an OR operator.



function OR(x, y) 
 return (x + (x ^ y) ^ x);



Next let us use a modified bit-parity type algorithm, but with OR instead of XOR. The result of this process will be a number that has the least-significant bit set if and only if the original value is non-zero. We can then XOR with a value that is all 1's except the first bit (ie, -2).



I've assumed 32-bit ints, but it is easy to modify to 64-bit if needed.



function IS_TRUE(c) 
 c = OR( c, c / 65536 ); /* c


Not as efficient as the marked answer, but it doesn't rely upon rounding errors :P






share|improve this answer


















  • 1




    != operator is not available. If it was you could just c != 0
    – zerkms
    40 mins ago











  • Ah, good point. Let me fix that...
    – Ryan Pierce Williams
    40 mins ago










Your Answer





StackExchange.ifUsing("editor", function ()
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function ()
StackExchange.using("snippets", function ()
StackExchange.snippets.init();
);
);
, "code-snippets");

StackExchange.ready(function()
var channelOptions =
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "1"
;
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function()
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled)
StackExchange.using("snippets", function()
createEditor();
);

else
createEditor();

);

function createEditor()
StackExchange.prepareEditor(
heartbeatType: 'answer',
convertImagesToLinks: true,
noModals: false,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: 10,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
);



);













 

draft saved


draft discarded


















StackExchange.ready(
function ()
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fstackoverflow.com%2fquestions%2f52979555%2fcan-mathematical-operators-be-used-to-convert-a-non-zero-number-to%23new-answer', 'question_page');

);

Post as a guest

















3 Answers
3






active

oldest

votes








3 Answers
3






active

oldest

votes









active

oldest

votes






active

oldest

votes








up vote
7
down vote



accepted










c / (c + 5e-324) should work. If x is 0, that is exactly 0, and if x is nonzero (technically, if x is at least 4.45014771701440252e-308, which the smallest non-zero number allowed in the question, 0.01, is), JavaScript's floating-point math is too imprecise for the answer to be different than 1, so it will come out as exactly 1.






share|improve this answer






















  • s/JavaScript's floating-point math/IEEE754
    – zerkms
    56 mins ago






  • 2




    @visibleman Those won't come up per the comments
    – Jared Goguen
    55 mins ago










  • Ok, I just saw the comment now, yes this will work fine then.
    – visibleman
    55 mins ago














up vote
7
down vote



accepted










c / (c + 5e-324) should work. If x is 0, that is exactly 0, and if x is nonzero (technically, if x is at least 4.45014771701440252e-308, which the smallest non-zero number allowed in the question, 0.01, is), JavaScript's floating-point math is too imprecise for the answer to be different than 1, so it will come out as exactly 1.






share|improve this answer






















  • s/JavaScript's floating-point math/IEEE754
    – zerkms
    56 mins ago






  • 2




    @visibleman Those won't come up per the comments
    – Jared Goguen
    55 mins ago










  • Ok, I just saw the comment now, yes this will work fine then.
    – visibleman
    55 mins ago












up vote
7
down vote



accepted







up vote
7
down vote



accepted






c / (c + 5e-324) should work. If x is 0, that is exactly 0, and if x is nonzero (technically, if x is at least 4.45014771701440252e-308, which the smallest non-zero number allowed in the question, 0.01, is), JavaScript's floating-point math is too imprecise for the answer to be different than 1, so it will come out as exactly 1.






share|improve this answer














c / (c + 5e-324) should work. If x is 0, that is exactly 0, and if x is nonzero (technically, if x is at least 4.45014771701440252e-308, which the smallest non-zero number allowed in the question, 0.01, is), JavaScript's floating-point math is too imprecise for the answer to be different than 1, so it will come out as exactly 1.







share|improve this answer














share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer








edited 46 mins ago

























answered 56 mins ago









Joseph Sible

3,755627




3,755627











  • s/JavaScript's floating-point math/IEEE754
    – zerkms
    56 mins ago






  • 2




    @visibleman Those won't come up per the comments
    – Jared Goguen
    55 mins ago










  • Ok, I just saw the comment now, yes this will work fine then.
    – visibleman
    55 mins ago
















  • s/JavaScript's floating-point math/IEEE754
    – zerkms
    56 mins ago






  • 2




    @visibleman Those won't come up per the comments
    – Jared Goguen
    55 mins ago










  • Ok, I just saw the comment now, yes this will work fine then.
    – visibleman
    55 mins ago















s/JavaScript's floating-point math/IEEE754
– zerkms
56 mins ago




s/JavaScript's floating-point math/IEEE754
– zerkms
56 mins ago




2




2




@visibleman Those won't come up per the comments
– Jared Goguen
55 mins ago




@visibleman Those won't come up per the comments
– Jared Goguen
55 mins ago












Ok, I just saw the comment now, yes this will work fine then.
– visibleman
55 mins ago




Ok, I just saw the comment now, yes this will work fine then.
– visibleman
55 mins ago












up vote
9
down vote













How about the expression n/n^0?






console.log([-1, 0, 1, 19575].map(n => n/n^0))





As you can see, all non-zero values get converted to 1, and 0 stays at 0. This leverages the fact that in Javascript, NaN^0 is 0.






share|improve this answer


















  • 2




    TIL: Number.NaN ^ n === n o_O (where n is a finite number)
    – zerkms
    27 mins ago











  • It seems that when used as a bitwise operand, NaN is conveniently converted to zero. See: Bitwise operations on non numbers
    – CRice
    21 mins ago














up vote
9
down vote













How about the expression n/n^0?






console.log([-1, 0, 1, 19575].map(n => n/n^0))





As you can see, all non-zero values get converted to 1, and 0 stays at 0. This leverages the fact that in Javascript, NaN^0 is 0.






share|improve this answer


















  • 2




    TIL: Number.NaN ^ n === n o_O (where n is a finite number)
    – zerkms
    27 mins ago











  • It seems that when used as a bitwise operand, NaN is conveniently converted to zero. See: Bitwise operations on non numbers
    – CRice
    21 mins ago












up vote
9
down vote










up vote
9
down vote









How about the expression n/n^0?






console.log([-1, 0, 1, 19575].map(n => n/n^0))





As you can see, all non-zero values get converted to 1, and 0 stays at 0. This leverages the fact that in Javascript, NaN^0 is 0.






share|improve this answer














How about the expression n/n^0?






console.log([-1, 0, 1, 19575].map(n => n/n^0))





As you can see, all non-zero values get converted to 1, and 0 stays at 0. This leverages the fact that in Javascript, NaN^0 is 0.






console.log([-1, 0, 1, 19575].map(n => n/n^0))





console.log([-1, 0, 1, 19575].map(n => n/n^0))






share|improve this answer














share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer








edited 28 mins ago

























answered 52 mins ago









CRice

10.9k1430




10.9k1430







  • 2




    TIL: Number.NaN ^ n === n o_O (where n is a finite number)
    – zerkms
    27 mins ago











  • It seems that when used as a bitwise operand, NaN is conveniently converted to zero. See: Bitwise operations on non numbers
    – CRice
    21 mins ago












  • 2




    TIL: Number.NaN ^ n === n o_O (where n is a finite number)
    – zerkms
    27 mins ago











  • It seems that when used as a bitwise operand, NaN is conveniently converted to zero. See: Bitwise operations on non numbers
    – CRice
    21 mins ago







2




2




TIL: Number.NaN ^ n === n o_O (where n is a finite number)
– zerkms
27 mins ago





TIL: Number.NaN ^ n === n o_O (where n is a finite number)
– zerkms
27 mins ago













It seems that when used as a bitwise operand, NaN is conveniently converted to zero. See: Bitwise operations on non numbers
– CRice
21 mins ago




It seems that when used as a bitwise operand, NaN is conveniently converted to zero. See: Bitwise operations on non numbers
– CRice
21 mins ago










up vote
-2
down vote













Interesting problem. Here's a revised approach. First, let us create an OR function, which we can do with two XORs and an add. The first XOR gets all the differences between x and y while the second XOR isolates the differences in y from x. We can then add those differences to x, giving us an OR operator.



function OR(x, y) 
 return (x + (x ^ y) ^ x);



Next let us use a modified bit-parity type algorithm, but with OR instead of XOR. The result of this process will be a number that has the least-significant bit set if and only if the original value is non-zero. We can then XOR with a value that is all 1's except the first bit (ie, -2).



I've assumed 32-bit ints, but it is easy to modify to 64-bit if needed.



function IS_TRUE(c) 
 c = OR( c, c / 65536 ); /* c


Not as efficient as the marked answer, but it doesn't rely upon rounding errors :P






share|improve this answer


















  • 1




    != operator is not available. If it was you could just c != 0
    – zerkms
    40 mins ago











  • Ah, good point. Let me fix that...
    – Ryan Pierce Williams
    40 mins ago














up vote
-2
down vote













Interesting problem. Here's a revised approach. First, let us create an OR function, which we can do with two XORs and an add. The first XOR gets all the differences between x and y while the second XOR isolates the differences in y from x. We can then add those differences to x, giving us an OR operator.



function OR(x, y) 
 return (x + (x ^ y) ^ x);



Next let us use a modified bit-parity type algorithm, but with OR instead of XOR. The result of this process will be a number that has the least-significant bit set if and only if the original value is non-zero. We can then XOR with a value that is all 1's except the first bit (ie, -2).



I've assumed 32-bit ints, but it is easy to modify to 64-bit if needed.



function IS_TRUE(c) 
 c = OR( c, c / 65536 ); /* c


Not as efficient as the marked answer, but it doesn't rely upon rounding errors :P






share|improve this answer


















  • 1




    != operator is not available. If it was you could just c != 0
    – zerkms
    40 mins ago











  • Ah, good point. Let me fix that...
    – Ryan Pierce Williams
    40 mins ago












up vote
-2
down vote










up vote
-2
down vote









Interesting problem. Here's a revised approach. First, let us create an OR function, which we can do with two XORs and an add. The first XOR gets all the differences between x and y while the second XOR isolates the differences in y from x. We can then add those differences to x, giving us an OR operator.



function OR(x, y) 
 return (x + (x ^ y) ^ x);



Next let us use a modified bit-parity type algorithm, but with OR instead of XOR. The result of this process will be a number that has the least-significant bit set if and only if the original value is non-zero. We can then XOR with a value that is all 1's except the first bit (ie, -2).



I've assumed 32-bit ints, but it is easy to modify to 64-bit if needed.



function IS_TRUE(c) 
 c = OR( c, c / 65536 ); /* c


Not as efficient as the marked answer, but it doesn't rely upon rounding errors :P






share|improve this answer














Interesting problem. Here's a revised approach. First, let us create an OR function, which we can do with two XORs and an add. The first XOR gets all the differences between x and y while the second XOR isolates the differences in y from x. We can then add those differences to x, giving us an OR operator.



function OR(x, y) 
 return (x + (x ^ y) ^ x);



Next let us use a modified bit-parity type algorithm, but with OR instead of XOR. The result of this process will be a number that has the least-significant bit set if and only if the original value is non-zero. We can then XOR with a value that is all 1's except the first bit (ie, -2).



I've assumed 32-bit ints, but it is easy to modify to 64-bit if needed.



function IS_TRUE(c) 
 c = OR( c, c / 65536 ); /* c


Not as efficient as the marked answer, but it doesn't rely upon rounding errors :P







share|improve this answer














share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer








edited 5 mins ago

























answered 43 mins ago









Ryan Pierce Williams

1074




1074







  • 1




    != operator is not available. If it was you could just c != 0
    – zerkms
    40 mins ago











  • Ah, good point. Let me fix that...
    – Ryan Pierce Williams
    40 mins ago












  • 1




    != operator is not available. If it was you could just c != 0
    – zerkms
    40 mins ago











  • Ah, good point. Let me fix that...
    – Ryan Pierce Williams
    40 mins ago







1




1




!= operator is not available. If it was you could just c != 0
– zerkms
40 mins ago





!= operator is not available. If it was you could just c != 0
– zerkms
40 mins ago













Ah, good point. Let me fix that...
– Ryan Pierce Williams
40 mins ago




Ah, good point. Let me fix that...
– Ryan Pierce Williams
40 mins ago

















 

draft saved


draft discarded















































 


draft saved


draft discarded














StackExchange.ready(
function ()
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fstackoverflow.com%2fquestions%2f52979555%2fcan-mathematical-operators-be-used-to-convert-a-non-zero-number-to%23new-answer', 'question_page');

);

Post as a guest
































































Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What does second last employer means? [closed]

Image
Clash Royale CLAN TAG #URR8PPP .everyoneloves__top-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__mid-leaderboard:empty margin-bottom:0; up vote -3 down vote favorite Say, for example I have worked in the following companies, Company A => 2010 - 2011 Company B => 2011 - 2012 Company C => 2012 - Till Date Company D => Have offer Now assume Company D is asking to submit documents from my second last employer. So from the list of companies given, which company would be qualified as second last employer? software-industry employer share | improve this question asked Aug 10 '14 at 5:16 Rajaprabhu Aravindasamy 559 1 6 13 closed as off-topic by Jim G., jmort253 ♦ Aug 11 '14 at 1:58 This question appears to be off-topic. The users who voted to close gave this specific reason: "Questions seeking advice on company-specific regulations, agreements, or policies should be directed to your manager or HR department. Questions that address...
Read more

Installing NextGIS Connect into QGIS 3?

Image
Clash Royale CLAN TAG #URR8PPP .everyoneloves__top-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__mid-leaderboard:empty margin-bottom:0; up vote 1 down vote favorite Just acquired free version of NEXTGIS and trying to install the plugin for QGIS. It tells me it was not designed for version 3 of QGIS. How do I set up the QGIS-NEXTGIS interface then? qgis qgis-plugins nextgis share | improve this question edited 3 hours ago PolyGeo ♦ 51.9k 17 77 233 asked 4 hours ago IanGS 16 4 New contributor IanGS is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering. Check out our Code of Conduct. add a comment  |  up vote 1 down vote favorite Just acquired free version of NEXTGIS and trying to install the plugin for QGIS. It tells me it was not designed for version 3 of QGIS. How do I set up the QGIS-NEXTGIS interface then? qgis qgis-plugin...
Read more

One-line joke

A one-liner is a joke that is delivered in a single line. A good one-liner is said to be pithy - concise and meaningful. [1] Comedians and actors use this comedic method as part of their act, e.g. Jimmy Carr, Tommy Cooper, Rodney Dangerfield, Norm Macdonald, Ken Dodd, Stewart Francis, Zach Galifianakis, Mitch Hedberg, Anthony Jeselnik, Milton Jones, Shappi Khorsandi, Jay London, Mark Linn-Baker, Demetri Martin, Groucho Marx, Dan Mintz, Emo Philips, Tim Vine, Steven Wright and Henny Youngman and Arnold Schwarzenegger. [ citation needed ] Many fictional characters are also known to deliver one-liners, including James Bond, who usually includes pithy and laconic quips after disposing of a villain. [ citation needed ] Examples "A baby seal walks into a club." "A dyslexic man walks into a bra." (Anonymous) "There are three types of people, those who can count and those who can't." "Venison's dear, isn't it?" (Jimmy Carr) "An escala...
Read more