how is the precedence and associativity?

[Rani_2006]

Hi,

in an interview question i was asked following question

#define multiply(x) x*x

main()
{
int result;
result = multiply(2) + 1;
}

what is the result value?
i told the answer is 5 since the macro gets expanded as 2*2+1
and here the multiplication takes first and addition latter.
but the interviewer said ans is 6 since the evaluation takes place from Left to right so first addition and then multiplcation.
i am not sure now what is correct ? i think * and + have L to R associativity and * has higher precedence.
Can someone correct me if i am wrong?

thanks a lot in advance

[hvg_99]

Hi,

You are correct. It so happens that

result = multiply(2) + 1;

first multiply(2*2) happens and 1 gets added to it.

and the answer is 5. not 6. so u are correct.

Gayatri

[Ralph]

The associativity for +,* is all from left to right and * takes precedence over +. So your approach of 2*2+1 giving 5 is prefect. Your answer is perfectly correct.