In C# integer arithmetic, does a/b/c always equal a/(b*c)?

Question

Let a, b and c be non-large positive integers. Does a/b/c always equal a/(b * c) with C# integer arithmetic? For me, in C# it looks like:

int a = 5126, b = 76,          


        

Answer 1

Let \ denote integer division (the C# / operator between two ints) and let / denote usual math division. Then, if x,y,z are positive integers and we are ignoring overflow,

(x \ y) \ z
    = floor(floor(x / y) / z)      [1]
    = floor((x / y) / z)           [2]
    = floor(x / (y * z))
    = x \ (y * z)

where

a \ b = floor(a / b)

The jump from line [1] to line [2] above is explained as follows. Suppose you have two integers a and b and a fractional number f in the range [0, 1). It is straightforward to see that

floor(a / b) = floor((a + f) / b)  [3]

If in line [1] you identify a = floor(x / y), f = (x / y) - floor(x / y), and b = z, then [3] implies that [1] and [2] are equal.

You can generalize this proof to negative integers (still ignoring overflow), but I'll leave that to the reader to keep the point simple.

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On the issue of overflow - see Eric Lippert's answer for a good explanation! He also takes a much more rigorous approach in his blog post and answer, something you should look into if you feel I'm being too hand-wavy.