Incremental Loop

[zengraft]

I have several calculations that require a number to loop incrementally until the calculation is satisfied. What is the most simple counter that I can write as a custom function in the form of something like: Counter(Increment) ?

[comment]

It really depends on the specifics. Custom functions are recursive, not iterative. Most often, you would call the next iteration with some parameter reduced by 1, until it runs out.

[zengraft]

I understand. I'd have to make my calculations work recursively. The number that I want to increment is a divisor that just goes from 1 (+1) to whenever the result is true. It's just much easier to think of this calculation iteratively. I'd put it in a script, but that would probably run slower than using a custom function. The calculation is used for every new record and has a lot of dependencies that get updated.

[comment]

Well, "the most simple counter" would be a parameter named counter, initialized to 1.

a divisor that just goes from 1 (+1) to whenever the result is true.

Not sure what that means - couldn't you use the Mod() function to get the result without recursing?

Edited February 8, 2011 by comment

[zengraft]

Well, "the most simple counter" would be a parameter named counter, initialized to 1.

Not sure what that means - couldn't you use the Mod() function to get the result without recursing?

One of the tests and results in a case() function that I want to apply it to is something like this, where n is the divisor starting from 2, then 3, 4, and so on until it evaluates as true. If there's a remainder, it gets passed on to another calculation field that does something similar, and then a few more times. This is actually part of a slew of calculation fields that deal with remainders of an original input value. Mod() doesn't always give me the proper remainder and that's the first function that I worked with before my idea of using iterative increments.

WSTurnPageSides ≥ PageFit / n ; PageFit / n ;

[comment]

I believe the condition:

WSTurnPageSides ≥ PageFit / n 

can be rewritten as:

n ≥ PageFit / WSTurnPageSides

and the smallest integer n that will satisfy the condition can be calculated as =

Ceiling ( PageFit / WSTurnPageSides )

[zengraft]

I believe the condition:

WSTurnPageSides ≥ PageFit / n 

can be rewritten as:

n ≥ PageFit / WSTurnPageSides

and the smallest integer n that will satisfy the condition can be calculated as =

Ceiling ( PageFit / WSTurnPageSides )

That's working very well so far and it reduces a lot of calculations into one simple line. I wrote the condition like this before but missed the Ceiling() function. Thanks again for your help.