Negative integer division surprising result

Question

In my application I encountered the following and was surprised by the results:

8/-7=-2 (both integers).

what does this means?

Answer 1

For the actual values, i.e. 8.0/(-7.0), the result is roughly -1.143.

Your result using integer division is being rounded down toward the more negative value of -2. (This is also known as "Floor division")

This is why you will get the somewhat perplexing answers of:

>>> 8/(-7)
-2
>>> 8/7
1

Note: This is "fixed" in Python 3, where the result of 8/(-7) would be -1.143. So if you have no reason to be using Python 2, you should upgrade. ;)

In Python 3, if you still want integer division, you can use the // operator. This will give you the same answer as 8/(-7) would in Python 2.

Here's a Python Enhancement Proposal on the subject: PEP 238 -- Changing the Division Operator