(Numeric) should -7 % 5 = -2 ?

[Julian Tibble]

In article <020720031459050258%pecora at anvil.nrl.navy.mil>,
Louis M. Pecora wrote:
> In article <mailman.1057088943.30504.python-list at python.org>, Bob
> Gailer <bgailer at alum.rpi.edu> wrote:
> 
>> "When an integer a is divided by another m, one has
>>          a = km + r
>> where the remainder is some positive integer less than m.
> 
> Maybe I'm misunderstanding this, but what about -7 divided by 5?  We
> get k=-1 and r=-2.  

-7 = (-2) * 5  +  3

So actually, k = -2 and r = 3 


> m can be negative.  Maybe your quote was for the positive integers only.

True, that definition does not make sense when m is negative. When I came
across the subject in introductory group theory they said "positive divisor".

Julian