How do I work out how to distribute a given number of points equally along a line? Say I've got five fence posts to place along a line of 400m, with one at each end and the same space between each - what's the formula for working out what that space should be?

I've got as far as SPACE = DISTANCE/NUMBER OF POSTS but of course that only breaks the distance up into (number of posts) chunks, leaving a post-less space at the end.

So... help.

Bah, hang on. I just subtract one post.

Maths, eh.

space=distance/(number of posts-1) you don't count the first

Right, I'm hijacking my own thread. New theme: 'Really easy maths you're no good at'.

You want the measure of the spans, so that's one fewer than the posts. So, 400 m / 4 posts = 100 m spans.

However, with spans like that, you're likely to see a fair bit of sagging.

/heh

Okay, so the five of us are in agreement, then?

Have you taken into account the thickness of the posts?

Not necessary as long as you measure to the same point on each.