Check if a number is divisible by 3

Question

I need to find whether a number is divisible by 3 without using %, / or *. The hint given was to use atoi() function. Any

Answer 1

The interview question essentially asks you to come up with (or have already known) the divisibility rule shorthand with 3 as the divisor.

One of the divisibility rule for 3 is as follows:

Take any number and add together each digit in the number. Then take that sum and determine if it is divisible by 3 (repeating the same procedure as necessary). If the final number is divisible by 3, then the original number is divisible by 3.

Example:

16,499,205,854,376
=> 1+6+4+9+9+2+0+5+8+5+4+3+7+6 sums to 69
=> 6 + 9 = 15 => 1 + 5 = 6, which is clearly divisible by 3.

See also

• Wikipedia/Divisibility rule - has many rules for many divisors