Interview Question


Country: United States




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1
of 1 vote

modulo has a distributive property
(a * b) % n is equivalent to (a % n * b % n) % n

pow(a,b) is basically multiply a with each other b number of times. so instead of calculating pow(a,b) first which will be a huge number since b is larger than long range, we first calculate a % n and then that value we multiple b numbers of times.

Every time a%n times b goes above long range, we take the % again ... here is a simplified example for clarity

a = 5 b = 4 and n = 3
pow(5,4) % 3

which is the same as
= (5 * 5 * 5 * 5) % 3
= 625 % 3
= 1

assuming pow(5,4) goes above the range, we can also write pow(5,4) % 3 using 5%3 approach like below
= (5 * 5 * 5 * 5) % 3
= (5%3 * 5%3 * 5%3 * 5%3) % 3

since 5%3 = 2, equation becomes
= (2 * 2 * 2 * 2) % 3
= (4 * 4) mod 3 --> here assuming 4 * 4 goes above long range, we take mod again
= (4 % 3 * 4 % 3) % 3
= (1 * 1) % 3
= 1

- Saurabh July 11, 2018 | Flag Reply


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