How do I divide an integer over multiple values in PHP? - php

Question

I'm trying to make a little PHP script for fun, and I'm a little stuck.
I want to divide an integer (for example 5) over multiple values.
For example:
$total = 5;
$mike = 0;
$ralf = 0;
$ashley = 0;
// Run the magic here
echo "Mike has " . $mike . " apples, Ralf has " . $ralf ." apples and Ashley has " . $ashley . " apples";
The output that I expect would look something like this:
Mike has 2 apples, Ralf has 1 apples and Ashley has 2 apples
Is there a way how to do this? :)
I can't do this hard coded, because I want the values to be randomized.
Cheers

Answer 1

Do it like this:
$total = 5;
$mike = rand(1,$total-2); // so that max value is 3 (everyone should get at least 1) ($total - $numberOfVarsToDistributeTheValueTo + 1)
$ralf = rand(1,$total - $mike - 1); // if 3 goes to mike, only 1 goes to ralf
$ashley = $total - $mike - $ralf; // i hope you understand.
// use it.

Answer 2

Something like this would work:
$people = array('mike','ralf','ashley');
$num = count($people);
$sum = 5; // TOTAL SUM TO DIVIDE
$groups = array();
$group = 0;
while(array_sum($groups) != $sum) {
$groups[$group] = mt_rand(0, $sum/mt_rand(1,5));
if(++$group == $num){
$group = 0;
}
}
// COMBINE ARRAY KEYS WITH VALUES
$total = array_combine($people, $groups);
echo "Mike has " . $total['mike'] . " apples, Ralf has " . $total['ralf'] ." apples and Ashley has " . $total['ashley'] . " apples";
Solution is inspired from this answer: https://stackoverflow.com/a/7289357/1363190

Answer 3

Hope This function will do your work . it can work for variable # of persons also.
divide_items(10,['mike','ralf','ashley']);
function divide_items($total=1,array $persons){
$progressed = 0;
for($i=0;$i<count($persons);$i++){
echo $random_count = rand(1,$total);
if(($i==(count($persons)-1)) && $progressed<$total ){
$random_count1 =$total - $progressed;
echo $persons[$i]." has ".$random_count1 ." Items<br>";
continue;
}
$progressed = $progressed+$random_count;
if($progressed<=$total){
echo $persons[$i]." has ".$random_count ." Items<br>";
}else{
echo $persons[$i]." has 0 Item<br>";
}
$total = $total-$random_count;
$progressed = 0;
}
}