Division Without Using Operator in C++

In this tutorial, we are going to learn how to divide a number without using the division (/) operator.

We have given two numbers, the program should return the quotient of the division operation.

We are going to use the subtraction (-) operator for the division.

Let's see the steps to solve the problem.

• Initialize the dividend and divisor.

• If the number is zero, then return 0.

• Store whether the result will be negative or not by checking the signs of dividend and divisor.

• Initialize a count to 0.

• Write a loop that runs until the number one is greater than or equals to the number two.

  • Subtract the number two from the number one and assign the result to the number one

  • Increment the counter.

• Print the counter.

Example

Let's see the code.

 Live Demo

#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
int division(int num_one, int num_two) {
   if (num_one == 0) {
      return 0;
   }
   if (num_two == 0) {
      return INT_MAX;
   }
   bool negative_result = false;
   if (num_one < 0) {
      num_one = -num_one ;
      if (num_two < 0) {
         num_two = -num_two ;
      }
      else {
         negative_result = true;
      }
   }
   else if (num_two < 0) {
      num_two = -num_two;
      negative_result = true;
   }
   int quotient = 0;
   while (num_one >= num_two) {
      num_one = num_one - num_two;
      quotient++;
   }
   if (negative_result) {
      quotient = -quotient;
   }
   return quotient;
}
int main() {
   int num_one = 24, num_two = 5;
   cout << division(num_one, num_two) << endl;
   return 0;
}

Output

If you run the above code, then you will get the following result.

4

Conclusion

If you have any queries in the tutorial, mention them in the comment section.