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How to auto-increment number and letter to generate a string sequence wise in c#

I have to make a string which consists a string like - AAA0009, and once it reaches AAA0009, it will generate AA0010 to AAA0019 and so on.... till AAA9999 and when it will reach to AAA9999, it will give AAB0000 to AAB9999 and so on till ZZZ9999.
I want to use static class and static variables so that it can auto increment by itself on every hit.
I have tried some but not even close, so help me out thanks.
Thanks for being instructive I was trying as I Said already but anyways you already want to put negatives over there without even knowing the thing:
Code:
public class GenerateTicketNumber
{
private static int num1 = 0;
public static string ToBase36()
{
const string base36 = "0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ";
var sb = new StringBuilder(9);
do
{
sb.Insert(0, base36[(byte)(num1 % 36)]);
num1 /= 36;
} while (num1 != 0);
var paddedString = "#T" + sb.ToString().PadLeft(8, '0');
num1 = num1 + 1;
return paddedString;
}
}
above is the code. this will generate a sequence but not the way I want anyways will use it and thanks for help.

Though there's already an accepted answer, I would like to share this one.
P.S. I do not claim that this is the best approach, but in my previous work we made something similar using Azure Table Storage which is a no sql database (FYI) and it works.
1.) Create a table to store your running ticket number.
public class TicketNumber
{
public string Type { get; set; } // Maybe you want to have different types of ticket?
public string AlphaPrefix { get; set; }
public string NumericPrefix { get; set; }
public TicketNumber()
{
this.AlphaPrefix = "AAA";
this.NumericPrefix = "0001";
}
public void Increment()
{
int num = int.Parse(this.NumericPrefix);
if (num + 1 >= 9999)
{
num = 1;
int i = 2; // We are assuming that there are only 3 characters
bool isMax = this.AlphaPrefix == "ZZZ";
if (isMax)
{
this.AlphaPrefix = "AAA"; // reset
}
else
{
while (this.AlphaPrefix[i] == 'Z')
{
i--;
}
char iChar = this.AlphaPrefix[i];
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(this.AlphaPrefix);
sb[i] = (char)(iChar + 1);
this.AlphaPrefix = sb.ToString();
}
}
else
{
num++;
}
this.NumericPrefix = num.ToString().PadLeft(4, '0');
}
public override string ToString()
{
return this.AlphaPrefix + this.NumericPrefix;
}
}
2.) Make sure you perform row-level locking and issue an error when it fails.
Here's an oracle syntax:
SELECT * FROM TICKETNUMBER WHERE TYPE = 'TYPE' FOR UPDATE NOWAIT;
This query locks the row and returns an error if the row is currently locked by another session.
We need this to make sure that even if you have millions of users generating a ticket number, it will not mess up the sequence.
Just make sure to save the new ticket number before you perform a COMMIT.
I forgot the MSSQL version of this but I recall using WITH (ROWLOCK) or something. Just google it.
3.) Working example:
static void Main()
{
TicketNumber ticketNumber = new TicketNumber();
ticketNumber.AlphaPrefix = "ZZZ";
ticketNumber.NumericPrefix = "9999";
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
Console.WriteLine(ticketNumber);
ticketNumber.Increment();
}
Console.Read();
}
Output:

Looking at your code that you've provided, it seems that you're backing this with a number and just want to convert that to a more user-friendly text representation.
You could try something like this:
private static string ValueToId(int value)
{
var parts = new List<string>();
int numberPart = value % 10000;
parts.Add(numberPart.ToString("0000"));
value /= 10000;
for (int i = 0; i < 3 || value > 0; ++i)
{
parts.Add(((char)(65 + (value % 26))).ToString());
value /= 26;
}
return string.Join(string.Empty, parts.AsEnumerable().Reverse().ToArray());
}
It will take the first 4 characters and use them as is, and then for the remainder of the value if will convert it into characters A-Z.
So 9999 becomes AAA9999, 10000 becomes AAB0000, and 270000 becomes ABB0000.
If the number is big enough that it exceeds 3 characters, it will add more letters at the start.

Here's an example of how you could go about implementing it
void Main()
{
string template = #"AAAA00";
var templateChars = template.ToCharArray();
for (int i = 0; i < 100000; i++)
{
templateChars = IncrementCharArray(templateChars);
Console.WriteLine(string.Join("",templateChars ));
}
}
public static char Increment(char val)
{
if(val == '9') return 'A';
if(val == 'Z') return '0';
return ++val;
}
public static char[] IncrementCharArray(char[] val)
{
if (val.All(chr => chr == 'Z'))
{
var newArray = new char[val.Length + 1];
for (int i = 0; i < newArray.Length; i++)
{
newArray[i] = '0';
}
return newArray;
}
int length = val.Length;
while (length > -1)
{
char lastVal = val[--length];
val[length] = Increment(lastVal);
if ( val[length] != '0') break;
}
return val;
}

How can I make my trie more efficient?

I'm working on a hacker rank problem and I believe my solution is correct. However, most of my test cases are being timed out. Could some one suggest how to improve the efficiency of my code?
The important part of the code starts at the "Trie Class".
The exact question can be found here: https://www.hackerrank.com/challenges/contacts
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;
class Solution
{
static void Main(String[] args)
{
int N = Int32.Parse(Console.ReadLine());
string[,] argList = new string[N, 2];
for (int i = 0; i < N; i++)
{
string[] s = Console.ReadLine().Split();
argList[i, 0] = s[0];
argList[i, 1] = s[1];
}
Trie trie = new Trie();
for (int i = 0; i < N; i++)
{
switch (argList[i, 0])
{
case "add":
trie.add(argList[i, 1]);
break;
case "find":
Console.WriteLine(trie.find(argList[i, 1]));
break;
default:
break;
}
}
}
}
class Trie
{
Trie[] trieArray = new Trie[26];
private int findCount = 0;
private bool data = false;
private char name;
public void add(string s)
{
s = s.ToLower();
add(s, this);
}
private void add(string s, Trie t)
{
char first = Char.Parse(s.Substring(0, 1));
int index = first - 'a';
if(t.trieArray[index] == null)
{
t.trieArray[index] = new Trie();
t.trieArray[index].name = first;
}
if (s.Length > 1)
{
add(s.Substring(1), t.trieArray[index]);
}
else
{
t.trieArray[index].data = true;
}
}
public int find(string s)
{
int ans;
s = s.ToLower();
find(s, this);
ans = findCount;
findCount = 0;
return ans;
}
private void find(string s, Trie t)
{
if (t == null)
{
return;
}
if (s.Length > 0)
{
char first = Char.Parse(s.Substring(0, 1));
int index = first - 'a';
find(s.Substring(1), t.trieArray[index]);
}
else
{
for(int i = 0; i < 26; i++)
{
if (t.trieArray[i] != null)
{
find("", t.trieArray[i]);
}
}
if (t.data == true)
{
findCount++;
}
}
}
}
EDIT: I did some suggestions in the comments but realized that I can't replace s.Substring(1) with s[0]... because I actually need s[1..n]. AND s[0] returns a char so I'm going to need to do .ToString on it anyways.
Also, to add a little more information. The idea is that it needs to count ALL names after a prefix for example.
Input: "He"
Trie Contains:
"Hello"
"Help"
"Heart"
"Ha"
"No"
Output: 3

I could just post a solution here that gives you 40 points but i guess this wont be any fun.
Make use of Enumerator<char> instead of any string operations
Count while adding values
any charachter minus 'a' makes a good arrayindex (gives you values between 0 and 25)

I think, this link must be very helpfull
There, you can find the good implementation of a trie data structure, but it's a java implementation. I implemented trie on c# with that great article one year ago, and i tried to find solution to an another hackerrank task too ) It was successful.
In my task, i had to a simply trie (i mean my alphabet equals 2) and only one method for adding new nodes:
public class Trie
{
//for integer representation in binary system 2^32
public static readonly int MaxLengthOfBits = 32;
//alphabet trie size
public static readonly int N = 2;
class Node
{
public Node[] next = new Node[Trie.N];
}
private Node _root;
}
public void AddValue(bool[] binaryNumber)
{
_root = AddValue(_root, binaryNumber, 0);
}
private Node AddValue(Node node, bool[] val, int d)
{
if (node == null) node = new Node();
//if least sagnificient bit has been added
//need return
if (d == val.Length)
{
return node;
}
// get 0 or 1 index of next array(length 2)
int index = Convert.ToInt32(val[d]);
node.next[index] = AddValue(node.next[index], val, ++d);
return node;
}

Postfix increment into if, c#

Code example:
using System;
public class Test {
public static void Main() {
int a = 0;
if(a++ == 0){
Console.WriteLine(a);
}
}
}
In this code the Console will write: 1. I can write this code in another way:
public static void Main() {
int a = 0;
if(a == 0){
a++;
Console.WriteLine(a);
}
}
These two examples work exactly the same (from what I know about postfix).
The problem is with this example coming from the Microsoft tutorials:
using System;
public class Document {
// Class allowing to view the document as an array of words:
public class WordCollection {
readonly Document document;
internal WordCollection (Document d){
document = d;
}
// Helper function -- search character array "text", starting
// at character "begin", for word number "wordCount". Returns
//false if there are less than wordCount words. Sets "start" and
//length to the position and length of the word within text
private bool GetWord(char[] text, int begin, int wordCount,
out int start, out int length) {
int end = text.Length;
int count = 0;
int inWord = -1;
start = length = 0;
for (int i = begin; i <= end; ++i){
bool isLetter = i < end && Char.IsLetterOrDigit(text[i]);
if (inWord >= 0) {
if (!isLetter) {
if (count++ == wordCount) {//PROBLEM IS HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!
start = inWord;
length = i - inWord;
return true;
}
inWord = -1;
}
} else {
if (isLetter) {
inWord = i;
}
}
}
return false;
}
//Indexer to get and set words of the containing document:
public string this[int index] {
get
{
int start, length;
if(GetWord(document.TextArray, 0, index, out start,
out length)) {
return new string(document.TextArray, start, length);
} else {
throw new IndexOutOfRangeException();
}
}
set {
int start, length;
if(GetWord(document.TextArray, 0, index, out start,
out length))
{
//Replace the word at start/length with
// the string "value"
if(length == value.Length){
Array.Copy(value.ToCharArray(), 0,
document.TextArray, start, length);
}
else {
char[] newText = new char[document.TextArray.Length +
value.Length - length];
Array.Copy(document.TextArray, 0, newText, 0, start);
Array.Copy(value.ToCharArray(), 0, newText, start, value.Length);
Array.Copy(document.TextArray, start + length, newText,
start + value.Length, document.TextArray.Length - start - length);
document.TextArray = newText;
}
} else {
throw new IndexOutOfRangeException();
}
}
}
public int Count {
get {
int count = 0, start = 0, length = 0;
while (GetWord(document.TextArray, start + length,
0, out start, out length)) {
++count;
}
return count;
}
}
}
// Class allowing the document to be viewed like an array
// of character
public class CharacterCollection {
readonly Document document;
internal CharacterCollection(Document d) {
document = d;
}
//Indexer to get and set character in the containing
//document
public char this[int index] {
get {
return document.TextArray[index];
}
set {
document.TextArray[index] = value;
}
}
//get the count of character in the containing document
public int Count {
get {
return document.TextArray.Length;
}
}
}
//Because the types of the fields have indexers,
//these fields appear as "indexed properties":
public WordCollection Words;
public readonly CharacterCollection Characters;
private char[] TextArray;
public Document(string initialText) {
TextArray = initialText.ToCharArray();
Words = new WordCollection(this);
Characters = new CharacterCollection(this);
}
public string Text {
get {
return new string(TextArray);
}
}
class Test {
static void Main() {
Document d = new Document(
"peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. How many pickled peppers did peter piper pick?"
);
//Change word "peter" to "penelope"
for(int i = 0; i < d.Words.Count; ++i){
if (d.Words[i] == "peter") {
d.Words[i] = "penelope";
}
}
for (int i = 0; i < d.Characters.Count; ++i) {
if (d.Characters[i] == 'p') {
d.Characters[i] = 'P';
}
}
Console.WriteLine(d.Text);
}
}
}
If I change the code marked above to this:
if (count == wordCount) {//PROBLEM IS HERE
start = inWord;
length = i - inWord;
count++;
return true;
}
I get an IndexOutOfRangeException, but I don't know why.

Your initial assumption is incorrect (that the two examples work exactly the same). In the following version, count is incremented regardless of whether or not it is equal to wordCount:
if (count++ == wordCount)
{
// Code omitted
}
In this version, count is ONLY incremented when it is equal to wordCount
if (count == wordCount)
{
// Other code omitted
count++;
}
EDIT
The reason this is causing you a failure is that, when you are searching for the second word (when wordCount is 1), the variable count will never equal wordCount (because it never gets incremented), and therefore the GetWord method returns false, which then triggers the else clause in your get method, which throws an IndexOutOfRangeException.

In your version of the code, count is only being incremented when count == wordCount; in the Microsoft version, it's being incremented whether the condition is met or not.

using System;
public class Test {
public static void Main() {
int a = 0;
if(a++ == 0){
Console.WriteLine(a);
}
}
}
Is not quite the same as:
public static void Main() {
int a = 0;
if(a == 0){
a++;
Console.WriteLine(a);
}
}
In the second case a++ is executed only if a == 0. In the first case a++ is executed every time we check the condition.

There is your mistake:
public static void Main() {
int a = 0;
if(a == 0){
a++;
Console.WriteLine(a);
}
}
It should be like this:
public static void Main() {
int a = 0;
if(a == 0){
a++;
Console.WriteLine(a);
}
else
a++;
}
a gets alwasy increased. This means, that in your code example count will get only increased when count == wordCount (In which case the method will return true anyway...). You basicly never increasing count.

(Dynamic programming) How to maximize room utilization with a list of meeting?

I am trying this problem using dynamic programming
Problem:
Given a meeting room and a list of intervals (represent the meeting), for e.g.:
interval 1: 1.00-2.00
interval 2: 2.00-4.00
interval 3: 14.00-16.00
...
etc.
Question:
How to schedule the meeting to maximize the room utilization, and NO meeting should overlap with each other?
Attempted solution
Below is my initial attempt in C# (knowing it is a modified Knapsack problem with constraints). However I had difficulty in getting the result correctly.
bool ContainsOverlapped(List<Interval> list)
{
var sortedList = list.OrderBy(x => x.Start).ToList();
for (int i = 0; i < sortedList.Count; i++)
{
for (int j = i + 1; j < sortedList.Count; j++)
{
if (sortedList[i].IsOverlap(sortedList[j]))
return true;
}
}
return false;
}
public bool Optimize(List<Interval> intervals, int limit, List<Interval> itemSoFar){
if (intervals == null || intervals.Count == 0)
return true; //no more choice
if (Sum(itemSoFar) > limit) //over limit
return false;
var arrInterval = intervals.ToArray();
//try all choices
for (int i = 0; i < arrInterval.Length; i++){
List<Interval> remaining = new List<Interval>();
for (int j = i + 1; j < arrInterval.Length; j++) {
remaining.Add(arrInterval[j]);
}
var partialChoice = new List<Interval>();
partialChoice.AddRange(itemSoFar);
partialChoice.Add(arrInterval[i]);
//should not schedule overlap
if (ContainsOverlapped(partialChoice))
partialChoice.Remove(arrInterval[i]);
if (Optimize(remaining, limit, partialChoice))
return true;
else
partialChoice.Remove(arrInterval[i]); //undo
}
//try all solution
return false;
}
public class Interval
{
public bool IsOverlap(Interval other)
{
return (other.Start < this.Start && this.Start < other.End) || //other < this
(this.Start < other.Start && other.End < this.End) || // this covers other
(other.Start < this.Start && this.End < other.End) || // other covers this
(this.Start < other.Start && other.Start < this.End); //this < other
}
public override bool Equals(object obj){
var i = (Interval)obj;
return base.Equals(obj) && i.Start == this.Start && i.End == this.End;
}
public int Start { get; set; }
public int End { get; set; }
public Interval(int start, int end){
Start = start;
End = end;
}
public int Duration{
get{
return End - Start;
}
}
}
Edit 1
Room utilization = amount of time the room is occupied. Sorry for confusion.
Edit 2
for simplicity: the duration of each interval is integer, and the start/end time start at whole hour (1,2,3..24)

I'm not sure how you are relating this to a knapsack problem. To me it seems more of a vertex cover problem.
First sort the intervals as per their start times and form a graph representation in the form of adjacency matrix or list.
The vertices shall be the interval numbers. There shall be an edge between two vertices if the corresponding intervals overlap with each other. Also, each vertex shall be associated with a value equal to the interval's duration.
The problem then becomes choosing the independent vertices in such a way that the total value is maximum.
This can be done through dynamic programming. The recurrence relation for each vertex shall be as follows:
V[i] = max{ V[j] | j < i and i->j is an edge,
V[k] + value[i] | k < i and there is no edge between i and k }
Base Case V[1] = value[1]
Note:
The vertices should be numbered in increasing order of their start times. Then if there are three vertices:
i < j < k, and if there is no edge between vertex i and vertex j, then there cannot be any edge between vertex i and vertex k.

Good approach is to create class that can easily handle for you.
First I create helper class for easily storing intervals
public class FromToDateTime
{
private DateTime _start;
public DateTime Start
{
get
{
return _start;
}
set
{
_start = value;
}
}
private DateTime _end;
public DateTime End
{
get
{
return _end;
}
set
{
_end = value;
}
}
public FromToDateTime(DateTime start, DateTime end)
{
Start = start;
End = end;
}
}
And then here is class Room, where all intervals are and which has method "addInterval", which returns true, if interval is ok and was added and false, if it does not.
btw : I got a checking condition for overlapping here : Algorithm to detect overlapping periods
public class Room
{
private List<FromToDateTime> _intervals;
public List<FromToDateTime> Intervals
{
get
{
return _intervals;
}
set
{
_intervals = value;
}
}
public Room()
{
Intervals = new List<FromToDateTime>();
}
public bool addInterval(FromToDateTime newInterval)
{
foreach (FromToDateTime interval in Intervals)
{
if (newInterval.Start < interval.End && interval.Start < newInterval.End)
{
return false;
}
}
Intervals.Add(newInterval);
return true;
}
}

While the more general problem (if you have multiple number of meeting rooms) is indeed NP-Hard, and is known as the interval scheduling problem.
Optimal solution for 1-d problem with one classroom:
For the 1-d problem, choosing the (still valid) earliest deadline first solves the problem optimally.
Proof: by induction, the base clause is the void clause - the algorithm optimally solves a problem with zero meetings.
The induction hypothesis is the algorithm solves the problem optimally for any number of k tasks.
The step: Given a problem with n meetings, hose the earliest deadline, and remove all invalid meetings after choosing it. Let the chosen earliest deadline task be T.
You will get a new problem of smaller size, and by invoking the algorithm on the reminder, you will get the optimal solution for them (induction hypothesis).
Now, note that given that optimal solution, you can add at most one of the discarded tasks, since you can either add T, or another discarded task - but all of them overlaps T - otherwise they wouldn't have been discarded), thus, you can add at most one from all discarded tasks, same as the suggested algorithm.
Conclusion: For 1 meeting room, this algorithm is optimal.
QED
high level pseudo code of the solution:
findOptimal(list<tasks>):
res = [] //empty list
sort(list) //according to deadline/meeting end
while (list.IsEmpty() == false):
res = res.append(list.first())
end = list.first().endTime()
//remove all overlaps with the chosen meeting
while (list.first().startTine() < end):
list.removeFirst()
return res
Clarification: This answer assumes "Room Utilization" means maximize number of meetings placed in the room.

Thanks all, here is my solution based on this Princeton note on dynamic programming.
Algorithm:
Sort all events by end time.
For each event, find p[n] - the latest event (by end time) which does not overlap with it.
Compute the optimization values: choose the best between including/not including the event.
Optimize(n) {
opt(0) = 0;
for j = 1 to n-th {
opt(j) = max(length(j) + opt[p(j)], opt[j-1]);
}
}
The complete source-code:
namespace CommonProblems.Algorithm.DynamicProgramming {
public class Scheduler {
#region init & test
public List<Event> _events { get; set; }
public List<Event> Init() {
if (_events == null) {
_events = new List<Event>();
_events.Add(new Event(8, 11));
_events.Add(new Event(6, 10));
_events.Add(new Event(5, 9));
_events.Add(new Event(3, 8));
_events.Add(new Event(4, 7));
_events.Add(new Event(0, 6));
_events.Add(new Event(3, 5));
_events.Add(new Event(1, 4));
}
return _events;
}
public void DemoOptimize() {
this.Init();
this.DynamicOptimize(this._events);
}
#endregion
#region Dynamic Programming
public void DynamicOptimize(List<Event> events) {
events.Add(new Event(0, 0));
events = events.SortByEndTime();
int[] eventIndexes = getCompatibleEvent(events);
int[] utilization = getBestUtilization(events, eventIndexes);
List<Event> schedule = getOptimizeSchedule(events, events.Count - 1, utilization, eventIndexes);
foreach (var e in schedule) {
Console.WriteLine("Event: [{0}- {1}]", e.Start, e.End);
}
}
/*
Algo to get optimization value:
1) Sort all events by end time, give each of the an index.
2) For each event, find p[n] - the latest event (by end time) which does not overlap with it.
3) Compute the optimization values: choose the best between including/not including the event.
Optimize(n) {
opt(0) = 0;
for j = 1 to n-th {
opt(j) = max(length(j) + opt[p(j)], opt[j-1]);
}
display opt();
}
*/
int[] getBestUtilization(List<Event> sortedEvents, int[] compatibleEvents) {
int[] optimal = new int[sortedEvents.Count];
int n = optimal.Length;
optimal[0] = 0;
for (int j = 1; j < n; j++) {
var thisEvent = sortedEvents[j];
//pick between 2 choices:
optimal[j] = Math.Max(thisEvent.Duration + optimal[compatibleEvents[j]], //Include this event
optimal[j - 1]); //Not include
}
return optimal;
}
/*
Show the optimized events:
sortedEvents: events sorted by end time.
index: event index to start with.
optimal: optimal[n] = the optimized schedule at n-th event.
compatibleEvents: compatibleEvents[n] = the latest event before n-th
*/
List<Event> getOptimizeSchedule(List<Event> sortedEvents, int index, int[] optimal, int[] compatibleEvents) {
List<Event> output = new List<Event>();
if (index == 0) {
//base case: no more event
return output;
}
//it's better to choose this event
else if (sortedEvents[index].Duration + optimal[compatibleEvents[index]] >= optimal[index]) {
output.Add(sortedEvents[index]);
//recursive go back
output.AddRange(getOptimizeSchedule(sortedEvents, compatibleEvents[index], optimal, compatibleEvents));
return output;
}
//it's better NOT choose this event
else {
output.AddRange(getOptimizeSchedule(sortedEvents, index - 1, optimal, compatibleEvents));
return output;
}
}
//compatibleEvents[n] = the latest event which do not overlap with n-th.
int[] getCompatibleEvent(List<Event> sortedEvents) {
int[] compatibleEvents = new int[sortedEvents.Count];
for (int i = 0; i < sortedEvents.Count; i++) {
for (int j = 0; j <= i; j++) {
if (!sortedEvents[j].IsOverlap(sortedEvents[i])) {
compatibleEvents[i] = j;
}
}
}
return compatibleEvents;
}
#endregion
}
public class Event {
public int EventId { get; set; }
public bool IsOverlap(Event other) {
return !(this.End <= other.Start ||
this.Start >= other.End);
}
public override bool Equals(object obj) {
var i = (Event)obj;
return base.Equals(obj) && i.Start == this.Start && i.End == this.End;
}
public int Start { get; set; }
public int End { get; set; }
public Event(int start, int end) {
Start = start;
End = end;
}
public int Duration {
get {
return End - Start;
}
}
}
public static class ListExtension {
public static bool ContainsOverlapped(this List<Event> list) {
var sortedList = list.OrderBy(x => x.Start).ToList();
for (int i = 0; i < sortedList.Count; i++) {
for (int j = i + 1; j < sortedList.Count; j++) {
if (sortedList[i].IsOverlap(sortedList[j]))
return true;
}
}
return false;
}
public static List<Event> SortByEndTime(this List<Event> events) {
if (events == null) return new List<Event>();
return events.OrderBy(x => x.End).ToList();
}
}
}

Formatting numbers with significant figures in C#

I have some decimal data that I am pushing into a SharePoint list where it is to be viewed. I'd like to restrict the number of significant figures displayed in the result data based on my knowledge of the specific calculation. Sometimes it'll be 3, so 12345 will become 12300 and 0.012345 will become 0.0123. Occasionally it will be 4 or 5. Is there any convenient way to handle this?

See: RoundToSignificantFigures by "P Daddy".
I've combined his method with another one I liked.
Rounding to significant figures is a lot easier in TSQL where the rounding method is based on rounding position, not number of decimal places - which is the case with .Net math.round. You could round a number in TSQL to negative places, which would round at whole numbers - so the scaling isn't needed.
Also see this other thread. Pyrolistical's method is good.
The trailing zeros part of the problem seems like more of a string operation to me, so I included a ToString() extension method which will pad zeros if necessary.
using System;
using System.Globalization;
public static class Precision
{
// 2^-24
public const float FLOAT_EPSILON = 0.0000000596046448f;
// 2^-53
public const double DOUBLE_EPSILON = 0.00000000000000011102230246251565d;
public static bool AlmostEquals(this double a, double b, double epsilon = DOUBLE_EPSILON)
{
// ReSharper disable CompareOfFloatsByEqualityOperator
if (a == b)
{
return true;
}
// ReSharper restore CompareOfFloatsByEqualityOperator
return (System.Math.Abs(a - b) < epsilon);
}
public static bool AlmostEquals(this float a, float b, float epsilon = FLOAT_EPSILON)
{
// ReSharper disable CompareOfFloatsByEqualityOperator
if (a == b)
{
return true;
}
// ReSharper restore CompareOfFloatsByEqualityOperator
return (System.Math.Abs(a - b) < epsilon);
}
}
public static class SignificantDigits
{
public static double Round(this double value, int significantDigits)
{
int unneededRoundingPosition;
return RoundSignificantDigits(value, significantDigits, out unneededRoundingPosition);
}
public static string ToString(this double value, int significantDigits)
{
// this method will round and then append zeros if needed.
// i.e. if you round .002 to two significant figures, the resulting number should be .0020.
var currentInfo = CultureInfo.CurrentCulture.NumberFormat;
if (double.IsNaN(value))
{
return currentInfo.NaNSymbol;
}
if (double.IsPositiveInfinity(value))
{
return currentInfo.PositiveInfinitySymbol;
}
if (double.IsNegativeInfinity(value))
{
return currentInfo.NegativeInfinitySymbol;
}
int roundingPosition;
var roundedValue = RoundSignificantDigits(value, significantDigits, out roundingPosition);
// when rounding causes a cascading round affecting digits of greater significance,
// need to re-round to get a correct rounding position afterwards
// this fixes a bug where rounding 9.96 to 2 figures yeilds 10.0 instead of 10
RoundSignificantDigits(roundedValue, significantDigits, out roundingPosition);
if (Math.Abs(roundingPosition) > 9)
{
// use exponential notation format
// ReSharper disable FormatStringProblem
return string.Format(currentInfo, "{0:E" + (significantDigits - 1) + "}", roundedValue);
// ReSharper restore FormatStringProblem
}
// string.format is only needed with decimal numbers (whole numbers won't need to be padded with zeros to the right.)
// ReSharper disable FormatStringProblem
return roundingPosition > 0 ? string.Format(currentInfo, "{0:F" + roundingPosition + "}", roundedValue) : roundedValue.ToString(currentInfo);
// ReSharper restore FormatStringProblem
}
private static double RoundSignificantDigits(double value, int significantDigits, out int roundingPosition)
{
// this method will return a rounded double value at a number of signifigant figures.
// the sigFigures parameter must be between 0 and 15, exclusive.
roundingPosition = 0;
if (value.AlmostEquals(0d))
{
roundingPosition = significantDigits - 1;
return 0d;
}
if (double.IsNaN(value))
{
return double.NaN;
}
if (double.IsPositiveInfinity(value))
{
return double.PositiveInfinity;
}
if (double.IsNegativeInfinity(value))
{
return double.NegativeInfinity;
}
if (significantDigits < 1 || significantDigits > 15)
{
throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException("significantDigits", value, "The significantDigits argument must be between 1 and 15.");
}
// The resulting rounding position will be negative for rounding at whole numbers, and positive for decimal places.
roundingPosition = significantDigits - 1 - (int)(Math.Floor(Math.Log10(Math.Abs(value))));
// try to use a rounding position directly, if no scale is needed.
// this is because the scale mutliplication after the rounding can introduce error, although
// this only happens when you're dealing with really tiny numbers, i.e 9.9e-14.
if (roundingPosition > 0 && roundingPosition < 16)
{
return Math.Round(value, roundingPosition, MidpointRounding.AwayFromZero);
}
// Shouldn't get here unless we need to scale it.
// Set the scaling value, for rounding whole numbers or decimals past 15 places
var scale = Math.Pow(10, Math.Ceiling(Math.Log10(Math.Abs(value))));
return Math.Round(value / scale, significantDigits, MidpointRounding.AwayFromZero) * scale;
}
}

This might do the trick:
double Input1 = 1234567;
string Result1 = Convert.ToDouble(String.Format("{0:G3}",Input1)).ToString("R0");
double Input2 = 0.012345;
string Result2 = Convert.ToDouble(String.Format("{0:G3}", Input2)).ToString("R6");
Changing the G3 to G4 produces the oddest result though.
It appears to round up the significant digits?

I ended up snagging some code from http://ostermiller.org/utils/SignificantFigures.java.html. It was in java, so I did a quick search/replace and some resharper reformatting to make the C# build. It seems to work nicely for my significant figure needs. FWIW, I removed his javadoc comments to make it more concise here, but the original code is documented quite nicely.
/*
* Copyright (C) 2002-2007 Stephen Ostermiller
* http://ostermiller.org/contact.pl?regarding=Java+Utilities
*
* This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
* it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
* the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
* (at your option) any later version.
*
* This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
* but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
* MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
* GNU General Public License for more details.
*
* See COPYING.TXT for details.
*/
public class SignificantFigures
{
private String original;
private StringBuilder _digits;
private int mantissa = -1;
private bool sign = true;
private bool isZero = false;
private bool useScientificNotation = true;
public SignificantFigures(String number)
{
original = number;
Parse(original);
}
public SignificantFigures(double number)
{
original = Convert.ToString(number);
try
{
Parse(original);
}
catch (Exception nfe)
{
_digits = null;
}
}
public bool UseScientificNotation
{
get { return useScientificNotation; }
set { useScientificNotation = value; }
}
public int GetNumberSignificantFigures()
{
if (_digits == null) return 0;
return _digits.Length;
}
public SignificantFigures SetLSD(int place)
{
SetLMSD(place, Int32.MinValue);
return this;
}
public SignificantFigures SetLMSD(int leastPlace, int mostPlace)
{
if (_digits != null && leastPlace != Int32.MinValue)
{
int significantFigures = _digits.Length;
int current = mantissa - significantFigures + 1;
int newLength = significantFigures - leastPlace + current;
if (newLength <= 0)
{
if (mostPlace == Int32.MinValue)
{
original = "NaN";
_digits = null;
}
else
{
newLength = mostPlace - leastPlace + 1;
_digits.Length = newLength;
mantissa = leastPlace;
for (int i = 0; i < newLength; i++)
{
_digits[i] = '0';
}
isZero = true;
sign = true;
}
}
else
{
_digits.Length = newLength;
for (int i = significantFigures; i < newLength; i++)
{
_digits[i] = '0';
}
}
}
return this;
}
public int GetLSD()
{
if (_digits == null) return Int32.MinValue;
return mantissa - _digits.Length + 1;
}
public int GetMSD()
{
if (_digits == null) return Int32.MinValue;
return mantissa + 1;
}
public override String ToString()
{
if (_digits == null) return original;
StringBuilder digits = new StringBuilder(this._digits.ToString());
int length = digits.Length;
if ((mantissa <= -4 || mantissa >= 7 ||
(mantissa >= length &&
digits[digits.Length - 1] == '0') ||
(isZero && mantissa != 0)) && useScientificNotation)
{
// use scientific notation.
if (length > 1)
{
digits.Insert(1, '.');
}
if (mantissa != 0)
{
digits.Append("E" + mantissa);
}
}
else if (mantissa <= -1)
{
digits.Insert(0, "0.");
for (int i = mantissa; i < -1; i++)
{
digits.Insert(2, '0');
}
}
else if (mantissa + 1 == length)
{
if (length > 1 && digits[digits.Length - 1] == '0')
{
digits.Append('.');
}
}
else if (mantissa < length)
{
digits.Insert(mantissa + 1, '.');
}
else
{
for (int i = length; i <= mantissa; i++)
{
digits.Append('0');
}
}
if (!sign)
{
digits.Insert(0, '-');
}
return digits.ToString();
}
public String ToScientificNotation()
{
if (_digits == null) return original;
StringBuilder digits = new StringBuilder(this._digits.ToString());
int length = digits.Length;
if (length > 1)
{
digits.Insert(1, '.');
}
if (mantissa != 0)
{
digits.Append("E" + mantissa);
}
if (!sign)
{
digits.Insert(0, '-');
}
return digits.ToString();
}
private const int INITIAL = 0;
private const int LEADZEROS = 1;
private const int MIDZEROS = 2;
private const int DIGITS = 3;
private const int LEADZEROSDOT = 4;
private const int DIGITSDOT = 5;
private const int MANTISSA = 6;
private const int MANTISSADIGIT = 7;
private void Parse(String number)
{
int length = number.Length;
_digits = new StringBuilder(length);
int state = INITIAL;
int mantissaStart = -1;
bool foundMantissaDigit = false;
// sometimes we don't know if a zero will be
// significant or not when it is encountered.
// keep track of the number of them so that
// the all can be made significant if we find
// out that they are.
int zeroCount = 0;
int leadZeroCount = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < length; i++)
{
char c = number[i];
switch (c)
{
case '.':
{
switch (state)
{
case INITIAL:
case LEADZEROS:
{
state = LEADZEROSDOT;
}
break;
case MIDZEROS:
{
// we now know that these zeros
// are more than just trailing place holders.
for (int j = 0; j < zeroCount; j++)
{
_digits.Append('0');
}
zeroCount = 0;
state = DIGITSDOT;
}
break;
case DIGITS:
{
state = DIGITSDOT;
}
break;
default:
{
throw new Exception(
"Unexpected character '" + c + "' at position " + i
);
}
}
}
break;
case '+':
{
switch (state)
{
case INITIAL:
{
sign = true;
state = LEADZEROS;
}
break;
case MANTISSA:
{
state = MANTISSADIGIT;
}
break;
default:
{
throw new Exception(
"Unexpected character '" + c + "' at position " + i
);
}
}
}
break;
case '-':
{
switch (state)
{
case INITIAL:
{
sign = false;
state = LEADZEROS;
}
break;
case MANTISSA:
{
state = MANTISSADIGIT;
}
break;
default:
{
throw new Exception(
"Unexpected character '" + c + "' at position " + i
);
}
}
}
break;
case '0':
{
switch (state)
{
case INITIAL:
case LEADZEROS:
{
// only significant if number
// is all zeros.
zeroCount++;
leadZeroCount++;
state = LEADZEROS;
}
break;
case MIDZEROS:
case DIGITS:
{
// only significant if followed
// by a decimal point or nonzero digit.
mantissa++;
zeroCount++;
state = MIDZEROS;
}
break;
case LEADZEROSDOT:
{
// only significant if number
// is all zeros.
mantissa--;
zeroCount++;
state = LEADZEROSDOT;
}
break;
case DIGITSDOT:
{
// non-leading zeros after
// a decimal point are always
// significant.
_digits.Append(c);
}
break;
case MANTISSA:
case MANTISSADIGIT:
{
foundMantissaDigit = true;
state = MANTISSADIGIT;
}
break;
default:
{
throw new Exception(
"Unexpected character '" + c + "' at position " + i
);
}
}
}
break;
case '1':
case '2':
case '3':
case '4':
case '5':
case '6':
case '7':
case '8':
case '9':
{
switch (state)
{
case INITIAL:
case LEADZEROS:
case DIGITS:
{
zeroCount = 0;
_digits.Append(c);
mantissa++;
state = DIGITS;
}
break;
case MIDZEROS:
{
// we now know that these zeros
// are more than just trailing place holders.
for (int j = 0; j < zeroCount; j++)
{
_digits.Append('0');
}
zeroCount = 0;
_digits.Append(c);
mantissa++;
state = DIGITS;
}
break;
case LEADZEROSDOT:
case DIGITSDOT:
{
zeroCount = 0;
_digits.Append(c);
state = DIGITSDOT;
}
break;
case MANTISSA:
case MANTISSADIGIT:
{
state = MANTISSADIGIT;
foundMantissaDigit = true;
}
break;
default:
{
throw new Exception(
"Unexpected character '" + c + "' at position " + i
);
}
}
}
break;
case 'E':
case 'e':
{
switch (state)
{
case INITIAL:
case LEADZEROS:
case DIGITS:
case LEADZEROSDOT:
case DIGITSDOT:
{
// record the starting point of the mantissa
// so we can do a substring to get it back later
mantissaStart = i + 1;
state = MANTISSA;
}
break;
default:
{
throw new Exception(
"Unexpected character '" + c + "' at position " + i
);
}
}
}
break;
default:
{
throw new Exception(
"Unexpected character '" + c + "' at position " + i
);
}
}
}
if (mantissaStart != -1)
{
// if we had found an 'E'
if (!foundMantissaDigit)
{
// we didn't actually find a mantissa to go with.
throw new Exception(
"No digits in mantissa."
);
}
// parse the mantissa.
mantissa += Convert.ToInt32(number.Substring(mantissaStart));
}
if (_digits.Length == 0)
{
if (zeroCount > 0)
{
// if nothing but zeros all zeros are significant.
for (int j = 0; j < zeroCount; j++)
{
_digits.Append('0');
}
mantissa += leadZeroCount;
isZero = true;
sign = true;
}
else
{
// a hack to catch some cases that we could catch
// by adding a ton of extra states. Things like:
// "e2" "+e2" "+." "." "+" etc.
throw new Exception(
"No digits in number."
);
}
}
}
public SignificantFigures SetNumberSignificantFigures(int significantFigures)
{
if (significantFigures <= 0)
throw new ArgumentException("Desired number of significant figures must be positive.");
if (_digits != null)
{
int length = _digits.Length;
if (length < significantFigures)
{
// number is not long enough, pad it with zeros.
for (int i = length; i < significantFigures; i++)
{
_digits.Append('0');
}
}
else if (length > significantFigures)
{
// number is too long chop some of it off with rounding.
bool addOne; // we need to round up if true.
char firstInSig = _digits[significantFigures];
if (firstInSig < '5')
{
// first non-significant digit less than five, round down.
addOne = false;
}
else if (firstInSig == '5')
{
// first non-significant digit equal to five
addOne = false;
for (int i = significantFigures + 1; !addOne && i < length; i++)
{
// if its followed by any non-zero digits, round up.
if (_digits[i] != '0')
{
addOne = true;
}
}
if (!addOne)
{
// if it was not followed by non-zero digits
// if the last significant digit is odd round up
// if the last significant digit is even round down
addOne = (_digits[significantFigures - 1] & 1) == 1;
}
}
else
{
// first non-significant digit greater than five, round up.
addOne = true;
}
// loop to add one (and carry a one if added to a nine)
// to the last significant digit
for (int i = significantFigures - 1; addOne && i >= 0; i--)
{
char digit = _digits[i];
if (digit < '9')
{
_digits[i] = (char) (digit + 1);
addOne = false;
}
else
{
_digits[i] = '0';
}
}
if (addOne)
{
// if the number was all nines
_digits.Insert(0, '1');
mantissa++;
}
// chop it to the correct number of figures.
_digits.Length = significantFigures;
}
}
return this;
}
public double ToDouble()
{
return Convert.ToDouble(original);
}
public static String Format(double number, int significantFigures)
{
SignificantFigures sf = new SignificantFigures(number);
sf.SetNumberSignificantFigures(significantFigures);
return sf.ToString();
}
}

I have a shorted answer to calculating significant figures of a number. Here is the code & the test results...
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
namespace ConsoleApplicationRound
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
//char cDecimal = '.'; // for English cultures
char cDecimal = ','; // for German cultures
List<double> l_dValue = new List<double>();
ushort usSignificants = 5;
l_dValue.Add(0);
l_dValue.Add(0.000640589);
l_dValue.Add(-0.000640589);
l_dValue.Add(-123.405009);
l_dValue.Add(123.405009);
l_dValue.Add(-540);
l_dValue.Add(540);
l_dValue.Add(-540911);
l_dValue.Add(540911);
l_dValue.Add(-118.2);
l_dValue.Add(118.2);
l_dValue.Add(-118.18);
l_dValue.Add(118.18);
l_dValue.Add(-118.188);
l_dValue.Add(118.188);
foreach (double d in l_dValue)
{
Console.WriteLine("d = Maths.Round('" +
cDecimal + "', " + d + ", " + usSignificants +
") = " + Maths.Round(
cDecimal, d, usSignificants));
}
Console.Read();
}
}
}
The Maths class used is as follows:
using System;
using System.Text;
namespace ConsoleApplicationRound
{
class Maths
{
/// <summary>
/// The word "Window"
/// </summary>
private static String m_strZeros = "000000000000000000000000000000000";
/// <summary>
/// The minus sign
/// </summary>
public const char m_cDASH = '-';
/// <summary>
/// Determines the number of digits before the decimal point
/// </summary>
/// <param name="cDecimal">
/// Language-specific decimal separator
/// </param>
/// <param name="strValue">
/// Value to be scrutinised
/// </param>
/// <returns>
/// Nr. of digits before the decimal point
/// </returns>
private static ushort NrOfDigitsBeforeDecimal(char cDecimal, String strValue)
{
short sDecimalPosition = (short)strValue.IndexOf(cDecimal);
ushort usSignificantDigits = 0;
if (sDecimalPosition >= 0)
{
strValue = strValue.Substring(0, sDecimalPosition + 1);
}
for (ushort us = 0; us < strValue.Length; us++)
{
if (strValue[us] != m_cDASH) usSignificantDigits++;
if (strValue[us] == cDecimal)
{
usSignificantDigits--;
break;
}
}
return usSignificantDigits;
}
/// <summary>
/// Rounds to a fixed number of significant digits
/// </summary>
/// <param name="d">
/// Number to be rounded
/// </param>
/// <param name="usSignificants">
/// Requested significant digits
/// </param>
/// <returns>
/// The rounded number
/// </returns>
public static String Round(char cDecimal,
double d,
ushort usSignificants)
{
StringBuilder value = new StringBuilder(Convert.ToString(d));
short sDecimalPosition = (short)value.ToString().IndexOf(cDecimal);
ushort usAfterDecimal = 0;
ushort usDigitsBeforeDecimalPoint =
NrOfDigitsBeforeDecimal(cDecimal, value.ToString());
if (usDigitsBeforeDecimalPoint == 1)
{
usAfterDecimal = (d == 0)
? usSignificants
: (ushort)(value.Length - sDecimalPosition - 2);
}
else
{
if (usSignificants >= usDigitsBeforeDecimalPoint)
{
usAfterDecimal =
(ushort)(usSignificants - usDigitsBeforeDecimalPoint);
}
else
{
double dPower = Math.Pow(10,
usDigitsBeforeDecimalPoint - usSignificants);
d = dPower*(long)(d/dPower);
}
}
double dRounded = Math.Round(d, usAfterDecimal);
StringBuilder result = new StringBuilder();
result.Append(dRounded);
ushort usDigits = (ushort)result.ToString().Replace(
Convert.ToString(cDecimal), "").Replace(
Convert.ToString(m_cDASH), "").Length;
// Add lagging zeros, if necessary:
if (usDigits < usSignificants)
{
if (usAfterDecimal != 0)
{
if (result.ToString().IndexOf(cDecimal) == -1)
{
result.Append(cDecimal);
}
int i = (d == 0) ? 0 : Math.Min(0, usDigits - usSignificants);
result.Append(m_strZeros.Substring(0, usAfterDecimal + i));
}
}
return result.ToString();
}
}
}
Any answer with a shorter code?

You can get an elegant bit perfect rounding by using the GetBits method on Decimal and leveraging BigInteger to perform masking.
Some utils
public static int CountDigits
(BigInteger number) => ((int)BigInteger.Log10(number))+1;
private static readonly BigInteger[] BigPowers10
= Enumerable.Range(0, 100)
.Select(v => BigInteger.Pow(10, v))
.ToArray();
The main function
public static decimal RoundToSignificantDigits
(this decimal num,
short n)
{
var bits = decimal.GetBits(num);
var u0 = unchecked((uint)bits[0]);
var u1 = unchecked((uint)bits[1]);
var u2 = unchecked((uint)bits[2]);
var i = new BigInteger(u0)
+ (new BigInteger(u1) << 32)
+ (new BigInteger(u2) << 64);
var d = CountDigits(i);
var delta = d - n;
if (delta < 0)
return num;
var scale = BigPowers10[delta];
var div = i/scale;
var rem = i%scale;
var up = rem > scale/2;
if (up)
div += 1;
var shifted = div*scale;
bits[0] =unchecked((int)(uint) (shifted & BigUnitMask));
bits[1] =unchecked((int)(uint) (shifted>>32 & BigUnitMask));
bits[2] =unchecked((int)(uint) (shifted>>64 & BigUnitMask));
return new decimal(bits);
}
test case 0
public void RoundToSignificantDigits()
{
WMath.RoundToSignificantDigits(0.0012345m, 2).Should().Be(0.0012m);
WMath.RoundToSignificantDigits(0.0012645m, 2).Should().Be(0.0013m);
WMath.RoundToSignificantDigits(0.040000000000000008, 6).Should().Be(0.04);
WMath.RoundToSignificantDigits(0.040000010000000008, 6).Should().Be(0.04);
WMath.RoundToSignificantDigits(0.040000100000000008, 6).Should().Be(0.0400001);
WMath.RoundToSignificantDigits(0.040000110000000008, 6).Should().Be(0.0400001);
WMath.RoundToSignificantDigits(0.20000000000000004, 6).Should().Be(0.2);
WMath.RoundToSignificantDigits(0.10000000000000002, 6).Should().Be(0.1);
WMath.RoundToSignificantDigits(0.0, 6).Should().Be(0.0);
}
test case 1
public void RoundToSigFigShouldWork()
{
1.2m.RoundToSignificantDigits(1).Should().Be(1m);
0.01235668m.RoundToSignificantDigits(3).Should().Be(0.0124m);
0.01m.RoundToSignificantDigits(3).Should().Be(0.01m);
1.23456789123456789123456789m.RoundToSignificantDigits(4)
.Should().Be(1.235m);
1.23456789123456789123456789m.RoundToSignificantDigits(16)
.Should().Be(1.234567891234568m);
1.23456789123456789123456789m.RoundToSignificantDigits(24)
.Should().Be(1.23456789123456789123457m);
1.23456789123456789123456789m.RoundToSignificantDigits(27)
.Should().Be(1.23456789123456789123456789m);
}

I found this article doing a quick search on it. Basically this one converts to a string and goes by the characters in that array one at a time, till it reached the max. significance. Will this work?

The following code doesn't quite meet the spec, since it doesn't try to round anything to the left of the decimal point. But it's simpler than anything else presented here (so far). I was quite surprised that C# doesn't have a built-in method to handle this.
static public string SignificantDigits(double d, int digits=10)
{
int magnitude = (d == 0.0) ? 0 : (int)Math.Floor(Math.Log10(Math.Abs(d))) + 1;
digits -= magnitude;
if (digits < 0)
digits = 0;
string fmt = "f" + digits.ToString();
return d.ToString(fmt);
}

This method is dead simple and works with any number, positive or negative, and only uses a single transcendental function (Log10). The only difference (which may/may-not matter) is that it will not round the integer component. This is perfect however for currency processing where you know the limits are within certain bounds, because you can use doubles for much faster processing than the dreadfully slow Decimal type.
public static double ToDecimal( this double x, int significantFigures = 15 ) {
// determine # of digits before & after the decimal
int digitsBeforeDecimal = (int)x.Abs().Log10().Ceil().Max( 0 ),
digitsAfterDecimal = (significantFigures - digitsBeforeDecimal).Max( 0 );
// round it off
return x.Round( digitsAfterDecimal );
}

As I remember it "significant figures" means the number of digits after the dot separator so 3 significant digits for 0.012345 would be 0.012 and not 0.0123, but that really doesnt matter for the solution.
I also understand that you want to "nullify" the last digits to a certain degree if the number is > 1. You write that 12345 would become 12300 but im not sure whether you want 123456 to become 1230000 or 123400 ? My solution does the last. Instead of calculating the factor you could ofcourse make a small initialized array if you only have a couple of variations.
private static string FormatToSignificantFigures(decimal number, int amount)
{
if (number > 1)
{
int factor = Factor(amount);
return ((int)(number/factor)*factor).ToString();
}
NumberFormatInfo nfi = new CultureInfo("en-US", false).NumberFormat;
nfi.NumberDecimalDigits = amount;
return(number.ToString("F", nfi));
}
private static int Factor(int x)
{
return DoCalcFactor(10, x-1);
}
private static int DoCalcFactor(int x, int y)
{
if (y == 1) return x;
return 10*DoCalcFactor(x, y - 1);
}
Kind regards
Carsten