Re: Random Numbers

At 11:21 PM 1/23/02 +1300, you wrote:

Whats the best way to generate a random number? Philip J. Newman

Here's a script i wrote awhile ago that uses three methods of picking random numbers... ========== <script language="php"> /* ##############################################################################

# GetRandomNumber Function                                      Version 1.25 #
# Copyright 2000 Paul Pearson                        wandrer@glcomputers.com #
# Created 7/20/00                                     Last Modified 10/19/00 #
#                                                                            #

# Lic: GPL - Please contact me if you use this function in your own program # ############################################################################## */ /* ##############################################################################

# Description: Get a random number                                           #

##############################################################################

# Arguments: $Random, $Min, $Max                                             #
# Return: $ReturnedValue                                                     #
# Required Variables: none                                                   #
# Bugs: none known                                                           #
# To Do: none                                                                #

#----------------------------------------------------------------------------#

#                                                                            #

# This function uses $Random to pick which random number generator to use: #

# 3) Computers Random Number Generator                                       #
# 2) HotBits Random Number Generator                                         #
# 1) Random.Org Random Number Generator                                      #
#                                                                            #

# Note: HotBits returns a html page with the random number chosen. Currently #

# we need to strip off the first 464 characters of the page that hotbits     #
# returns so that we can get just the random number. Also, hotbits only      #
# returns a hex number so we have to do some converting to get a number      #
# between $min and $max.                                                     #
#                                                                            #
# Example of Use:                                                            #
#                                                                            #
# $Random_Number_1=GetRandomNumber("$Min_Number", "$Max_Number", "$RNG");    #
# $Random_Number_2=GetRandomNumber("100", "125", "3");                       #
# $Random_Number_3=GetRandomNumber("1","100", "1");                          #
#                                                                            #

############################################################################## */ function GetRandomNumber($Min="0", $Max="255", $Random="3") {

        unset ($ReturnedValue);

        if ($Random=="3" ) {
                srand((double)microtime()*intval(rand(1,1000000)));
                $ReturnedValue=intval(rand($Min, $Max));
        }
        if ($Random=="2" ) {
                #
                # HotBits does not use min or max. Instead, it generates a Hex number (00-FF).
                # We fake min/max with hotbits.
                #
                $fp_HotBits = fopen ("http://www.fourmilab.to/cgi-bin/uncgi/Hotbits?nbytes=1&fmt=hex", "r");
                $HotBits_Text = fread ($fp_HotBits, 4096);
                $HotBits_PickedNumber=substr($HotBits_Text, 463, 2);
                fclose($fp_HotBits);
                $ReturnedValue=intval(((hexdec($HotBits_PickedNumber)/255)*($Max-$Min))+$Min);
        }

        if ($Random=="1" ) {
                $fp_RandomOrg = fopen ("http://www.random.org/cgi-bin/randnum?num=1&min="."$Min"."&max="."$Max"."&col=1", "r");
                $RandomOrg_Text = fread ($fp_RandomOrg, 4096);
                $ReturnedValue=$RandomOrg_Text;
                fclose($fp_RandomOrg);
        }

return $ReturnedValue; } </script> ========== Paul