这真的很简单。

if (number == 0) return 0;
if (number == 1) return 0;
if (number == 2) return 0;
if (number == 3) return 1;
if (number == 4) return 1;
if (number == 5) return 1;
if (number == 6) return 2;

(当然，为了简洁起见，我省略了一些程序。)如果程序员厌倦了把这些都输入，我相信他或她可以编写一个单独的程序来为他生成这些。我碰巧认识一个能大大简化他工作的人。

如果你提醒自己标准的学校除法方法，用二进制来做，你会发现在3的情况下，你只是在有限的一组值中除法和减法(在这种情况下，从0到5)。这些可以用switch语句处理，以摆脱算术运算符。

static unsigned lamediv3(unsigned n)
{
  unsigned result = 0, remainder = 0, mask = 0x80000000;

  // Go through all bits of n from MSB to LSB.
  for (int i = 0; i < 32; i++, mask >>= 1)
  {
    result <<= 1;
    // Shift in the next bit of n into remainder.
    remainder = remainder << 1 | !!(n & mask);

    // Divide remainder by 3, update result and remainer.
    // If remainder is less than 3, it remains intact.
    switch (remainder)
    {
    case 3:
      result |= 1;
      remainder = 0;
      break;

    case 4:
      result |= 1;
      remainder = 1;
      break;

    case 5:
      result |= 1;
      remainder = 2;
      break;
    }
  }

  return result;
}

#include <cstdio>

int main()
{
  // Verify for all possible values of a 32-bit unsigned integer.
  unsigned i = 0;

  do
  {
    unsigned d = lamediv3(i);

    if (i / 3 != d)
    {
      printf("failed for %u: %u != %u\n", i, d, i / 3);
      return 1;
    }
  }
  while (++i != 0);
}

下面的脚本生成了一个C程序，可以在不使用运算符* / + - %的情况下解决这个问题:

#!/usr/bin/env python3

print('''#include <stdint.h>
#include <stdio.h>
const int32_t div_by_3(const int32_t input)
{
''')

for i in range(-2**31, 2**31):
    print('    if(input == %d) return %d;' % (i, i / 3))


print(r'''
    return 42; // impossible
}
int main()
{
    const int32_t number = 8;
    printf("%d / 3 = %d\n", number, div_by_3(number));
}
''')

这是Python中的，基本上，字符串比较和一个状态机。

def divide_by_3(input):
  to_do = {}
  enque_index = 0
  zero_to_9 = (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
  leave_over = 0
  for left_over in (0, 1, 2):
    for digit in zero_to_9:
      # left_over, digit => enque, leave_over
      to_do[(left_over, digit)] = (zero_to_9[enque_index], leave_over)
      if leave_over == 0:
        leave_over = 1
      elif leave_over == 1:
        leave_over = 2
      elif leave_over == 2 and enque_index != 9:
        leave_over = 0
        enque_index = (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)[enque_index]
  answer_q = []
  left_over = 0
  digits = list(str(input))
  if digits[0] == "-":
    answer_q.append("-")
  digits = digits[1:]
  for digit in digits:
    enque, left_over = to_do[(left_over, int(digit))]
    if enque or len(answer_q):
      answer_q.append(enque)
  answer = 0
  if len(answer_q):
    answer = int("".join([str(a) for a in answer_q]))
  return answer

使用itoa转换为以3为基数的字符串。去掉最后一个小调，转换回10进制。

// Note: itoa is non-standard but actual implementations
// don't seem to handle negative when base != 10.
int div3(int i) {
    char str[42];
    sprintf(str, "%d", INT_MIN); // Put minus sign at str[0]
    if (i>0)                     // Remove sign if positive
        str[0] = ' ';
    itoa(abs(i), &str[1], 3);    // Put ternary absolute value starting at str[1]
    str[strlen(&str[1])] = '\0'; // Drop last digit
    return strtol(str, NULL, 3); // Read back result
}

这在Setun电脑上很容易实现。

要把一个整数除3，右移1位。

不过，我不确定在这样的平台上是否有可能实现一个符合标准的C编译器。我们可能需要稍微扩展一下规则，比如将“至少8位”解释为“能够保存至少从-128到+127的整数”。