Division between integers in Java

Question

I need to perform division between integers in Java, and the result should be a float.

Could I just use / symbol for it? As in:

int integer1 = 1; int integer2 = 2; float quotient = integer1 / integer2; // Could I do this?

You might also want to check this SO post dealing with fractions. If you're going to use your division result in other calculations, you'll need all help you can get to minimize rounding errors. — darioo
– darioo, Commented Mar 5, 2011 at 10:19
I suggest you use double instead of float as float cannot represent all int values accurately. try (double) integer1 / integer2 — Peter Lawrey
– Peter Lawrey, Commented Mar 5, 2011 at 15:17
@Peter: I agree. For the record, double is merely less bad than float. It doesn't solve the problem. I presume you already knew that, but I just wanted it to be on the record. :) — Adam Paynter
– Adam Paynter, Commented Mar 7, 2011 at 12:13
@Adam, 'double' can at least repesent all int values without error. It cannot represent all int/int values without error, but there is likely to be approriate rounding which is acceptible for the OPs applications. Otherwise you need to use a Faction (for unlimited precision) or BigDecimal (for very long precision) — Peter Lawrey
– Peter Lawrey, Commented Mar 7, 2011 at 12:23

Adrian Cox · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-05 09:54:07Z

25

Cast one of the integers to float to ensure a floating point division:

float result = integer1 / (float) integer2

answered Mar 5, 2011 at 9:54

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