Dividing whole numbers problem

[Jack Higgs]

I'm building a maths program for year 6 children.

Problem with division - I generate a random number between say 1 and 1000. I
want to generate another random number which when divided by the first
number gives a whole number answer. Any Idea how I could do this? Obviously
generating prime numbers is a bit of a problem as well!

Cheers,

Jack

[Rick Rothstein]

Re: Dividing whole numbers problem

> I'm building a maths program for year 6 children.[color=blue]
>
> Problem with division - I generate a random number between say 1 and[/color]
1000. I[color=blue]
> want to generate another random number which when divided by the first
> number gives a whole number answer. Any Idea how I could do this?[/color]
Obviously[color=blue]
> generating prime numbers is a bit of a problem as well![/color]

Instead of generating a number and trying to find whole number divisors,
what about generating two numbers whose product is 1000 or less and then
presenting that product and one of the numbers you used in the
multiplication to the child... the other number is the answer. Something
like this should work...

FirstNumber = 1 + Int(50 * Rnd)
MaxForSecondNum ber = Int(1000 / FirstNumber)
SecondNumber = 1 + Int(MaxForSecon dNumber * Rnd)
Product = FirstNumber * SecondNumber

Of course, this doesn't address the "hardness" value of the division.

Rick - MVP

[Jack Higgs]

Re: Dividing whole numbers problem


"Rick Rothstein" <rickNOSPAMnews @NOSPAMcomcast. net> wrote in message
news:dpmdnTKG5b DG3JvfRVn-3w@comcast.com. ..[color=blue][color=green]
>> I'm building a maths program for year 6 children.
>>
>> Problem with division - I generate a random number between say 1 and[/color]
> 1000. I[color=green]
>> want to generate another random number which when divided by the first
>> number gives a whole number answer. Any Idea how I could do this?[/color]
> Obviously[color=green]
>> generating prime numbers is a bit of a problem as well![/color]
>
> Instead of generating a number and trying to find whole number divisors,
> what about generating two numbers whose product is 1000 or less and then
> presenting that product and one of the numbers you used in the
> multiplication to the child... the other number is the answer. Something
> like this should work...
>
> FirstNumber = 1 + Int(50 * Rnd)
> MaxForSecondNum ber = Int(1000 / FirstNumber)
> SecondNumber = 1 + Int(MaxForSecon dNumber * Rnd)
> Product = FirstNumber * SecondNumber
>
> Of course, this doesn't address the "hardness" value of the division.
>
> Rick - MVP
>[/color]

That's clever, thank you very much, it works a treat.

Cheers,

Jack