Path: utzoo!utgpu!utstat!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!oberon!oxy!bagpiper
From: bagpiper@oxy.edu (Michael Paul Hunter)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: How do I get random #s?
Message-ID: <16034@tiger.oxy.edu>
Date: 5 Feb 89 19:54:50 GMT
References: <19415@dhw68k.cts.com> <9570@smoke.BRL.MIL>
Organization: Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA  90041
Lines: 19

In article <9570@smoke.BRL.MIL> gwyn@smoke.BRL.MIL (Doug Gwyn ) writes:
>In article <19415@dhw68k.cts.com> tsource@dhw68k.cts.com (Aryeh Friedman) writes:
>>	 I am new to C and I want to know how to get random numbers returned.
>
>Unfortunately the specific details of pseudo-random number generators
>in the system C libraries vary from system to system.	Usually there
>is one called rand(), sometimes random().  UNIX System V has a family
>*rand48().
>
>ANSI C requires rand() to be provided, but probably your best bet for
>the time being is to provide your own generator.  For example:
>

How about a quick hack at a random number generator that is
kindof-fairly uniorm in [0, 1].  My quick answer is to scale
rand...but that doesn't seem to be the best quick hack answer
to me.

				    Mike