What is the purpose of the remainder operator in Java?

In Java, the remainder is a modulo operator used to calculate the remainder of the division of two numbers. It can be used for both integer and floating-point operations.

Specific functions are as follows:

1. For integer operations, the remainder function returns the remainder after dividing two integers. For example, 5 % 2 returns 1, since the quotient of dividing 5 by 2 is 2, with a remainder of 1.
2. For floating-point operations, the remainder function returns the remainder of two floating-point numbers after division. For example, 5.5 % 2.1 returns 1.3 because the quotient of 5.5 divided by 2.1 is approximately 2.619, with a remainder of 1.3.

It is important to note that the sign of the result of the remainder is the same as the sign of the dividend. For example, -5 % 2 returns -1, because when -5 is divided by 2, the quotient is -2, and the remainder is -1.

An operator similar to remainder is modulus, which returns a result with the same sign as the divisor. For example, -5 % 2 returns 1, because when -5 is divided by 2, the quotient is -2 and the remainder is 1.