[erlang-questions] more random uniform

[Tony Rogvall]

No it was not necessary, just making sure it was fresh every time.

Any particular reason to keep the third argument to zero in the random:seed/3 call ?
This will, as you point out, generate an initial sequence of small random:uniform numbers.
Looking at random.erl the calculation is (modified in this context):

	(((X+1)*171) rem 30269) / 30269  +
	(((Y+1)*172) rem 30307) / 30307 + 
	(((0+1)*170) rem 30323) / 30323

Keeping the X and Y small enough (less than 176 ) we can rewrite this as:

	R = ((X+1)*171) / 30269 + ((Y+1)*172) / 30307 + 170 / 30323

The value of this expression will be small given small values on X and Y,  and the expression
trunc(R*3) will be zero for X+Y < 56 (roughly)

In other words use larger numbers, and use them all, when seeding the random number generator.

/Tony


On 27 okt 2013, at 11:48, Bengt Kleberg <bengt.kleberg@REDACTED> wrote:

> 7> [erlang:spawn( fun() -> random:seed(X,Y,0), io:fwrite("~p ", [random:uniform(3)]) end ) || X<-lists:seq(1,10), Y<-lists:seq(1,10)]. 
> 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 
> 
> 
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> ----- Ursprungligt meddelande -----
> Från: Bengt Kleberg <bengt.kleberg@REDACTED>
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> Ämne: Re: [erlang-questions] more random uniform
> 
> 
> Thank you.
> 
> I have 15B.
> Is the erase/1 necessary? I am using new processes each time.
> 
> 
> Bengt
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> ----- Ursprungligt meddelande -----
> Från: Tony Rogvall <tony@REDACTED>
> Till: Bengt Kleberg <bengt.kleberg@REDACTED>
> Kopia: "erlang-questions@REDACTED" <erlang-questions@REDACTED>
> Skickat: 27-10-2013 11:13 fm
> Ämne: Re: [erlang-questions] more random uniform
> 
> 
> I can not replicate this (on R16B01).
> 
> > erase(random_seed), random:seed(erlang:now()), random:uniform(3).
> 1
> > erase(random_seed), random:seed(erlang:now()), random:uniform(3).
> 2
> ...
> 
> ?
> 
> /Tony
> 
> 
> On 27 okt 2013, at 10:45, Bengt Kleberg <bengt.kleberg@REDACTED> wrote:
> 
>> Greetings,
>> 
>> When doing random:uniform/1 for small values, ie 3, the result is 1 the first time. Changing the seed does not help.
>> What am I missing?
>> 
>> 
>> Bengt
>> 
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