PlanMaker QUOTIENT: Integer Division and Signed Remainders

• Introduced: Documented by the PlanMaker 2010 manual; the first introduction release is unknown.
• Availability: Listed in the 2026/NX English reference. No final supported-version endpoint is established.
• Scope: The checked desktop manuals do not establish identical behavior in every older, mobile or NX subscription build.
• Checked: October 14, 2026, against the official QUOTIENT reference. Documentation and independent calculations; no native PlanMaker test.

=QUOTIENT(x, y)

Both arguments are required: x is the numerator and y is the denominator. Use a nonzero denominator. The 2026 reference defines the result as the integer part of the division and gives QUOTIENT(6,4)=1.

The integer part discards the fractional portion toward zero. Thus a quotient of approximately -2.3333 has integer part -2, not -3. SoftMaker’s signed division comparison also displays -2 for 7 divided by -3 and for -7 divided by 3.

This differs from rounding down on the number line. Use TRUNC when your input is already a quotient or another number and you want to remove fractional places; use QUOTIENT to keep the two operands explicit.

On a blank worksheet, set A1:D1 to Numerator, Denominator, Division, and Integer quotient. Enter A2:B9:

Enter =A2/B2 in C2 and =QUOTIENT(A2,B2) in D2. Fill C2:D2 through row 9. The decimal input in row 6 is divided before its fractional quotient is removed; QUOTIENT is not an instruction to round each operand first.

In E1 use Reconstructed remainder. Enter =A2-B2*D2 in E2 and fill through E9. Expected E values are 2, 1, 0, 3, 1.5, 1, -1, -1. Finally put =B2*D2+E2 in F2 and fill through F9: each result reconstructs the original A value.

The reconstruction above defines its remainder using QUOTIENT’s integer part. Do not assume that every function named MOD chooses the same remainder when signs differ.

For x=7 and y=-3, QUOTIENT is -2, so the reconstructing remainder is 1: (-3)*(-2)+1=7. PlanMaker’s Excel-compatible MOD instead returns -2 for this pair. Combining that MOD result with the truncated quotient would give 4, not 7.

The distinction is a choice of signed-division convention, not a reason to call either isolated arithmetic definition universally incorrect. SoftMaker provides MODP for the truncated-quotient convention. Its official reference also warns that exporting MODP formulas to Excel format replaces them with their last calculated fixed values. A simple reconstruction formula can make the convention visible without adding that export dependency.

On a separate blank worksheet, enter Items, Capacity, Full cartons, Remainder, and Cartons to hold all items in A1:E1. Enter these positive-capacity cases:

Put =QUOTIENT(A2,B2) in C2, =A2-B2*C2 in D2 and =C2+IF(D2>0,1,0) in E2. Fill C2:E2 through row 4.

QUOTIENT answers how many cartons can be filled completely. E adds one more carton when items remain. A result of four full cartons does not mean four cartons can hold seventeen items. This model requires nonnegative whole item counts and a strictly positive whole capacity; signed adjustments are not physical carton counts.

The short QUOTIENT reference does not specify the exact error token for a zero denominator, or all text, blank and Boolean coercions. Check and validate the operands rather than assigning another spreadsheet’s error behavior to PlanMaker.

English examples use comma separators. Follow PlanMaker’s formula-entry instructions when adapting names and separators to your settings.

Keep the underlying division visible near a threshold. A calculated value displayed as 5 may still be slightly below 5 internally; changing number formatting does not make it an exact integer. These examples use simple inputs and independent arithmetic, not a claim about every floating-point boundary or export format.