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How to use the full amount in a division? So if I want to divide 10 / 3, I want the following results [ 3.33, 3.33, 3.34 ] (if going for 2 decimal places), or [ 3.333, 3.333, 3.334 ] (if going for 3 decimal places)

pablo
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  • I'm not following. So you're distributing an amount to different cells? So that $1/3 + 1/3 + 1/3 = 1$? And what do you mean by "use the full amount"? – Matti P. Apr 26 '18 at 10:53
  • A calculator gives you $\frac{10}{3} = 3.333 \dots$, what's the problem with that? – Matti P. Apr 26 '18 at 10:54
  • If I want to divide 10 dollars between 3 people I have to give 3.33 to one person, 3.33 to another and 3.34 to the last, I cannot give 10/3 to each. – pablo Apr 26 '18 at 10:56
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    @MattiP. If 3.3333333.... is rounded to two decimal places, you get 3.33. However, if you add the rounded values 3.33+3.33+3.33 you get 9.99 and not 10. He is looking for some routine which makes up for the missing 0.01 and adds it to one of the rounded values. – YukiJ Apr 26 '18 at 10:56
  • What rule do you seek to follow? Say, for instance, we are dividing $17$ by $7$. That's $2.4285714$. If you want to do it to two places, you'd give everyone $2.42$ to start...but then $7\times 2.42=16.94$. So...we could assign the missing $.06$ to one person, or give $.01$ to six people (among other options). Which do you do and why? – lulu Apr 26 '18 at 10:59
  • @lulu the fairest: give .01 to six people – pablo Apr 26 '18 at 11:00
  • Ok, so do that. First truncate, then compute the difference and apportion it. Is there an instance where that goes wrong? – lulu Apr 26 '18 at 11:05

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