Re: Newbie question on discrete distribution of random numbers

Maybe you underestimate the difficulty of making a random permutation of a
list of things: it is full of pitfalls. Have a look at Skiena's book (The
algorithm design manual).

I didn't underestimate it, or in George W. Bush's words,
"misunderestimate" it, heh. I actually have quite a lot of experience
in it, including a commercial casino game I wrote in another
language. I was merely working with what I had to work with. The man
asked for "random" numbers with an exact amount of each of the numbers
in his interval, and so I gave him a "quick and dirty." I assume by
his post (he did not provide details) that he doesn't need anything
more than that.

For "true" random numbers one should probably go to some sort of
hardware solution based on radioactive decay, plucking "white noise"
out of the air, etc. But even then, he'd have to massage the results
to get the exact amount of each of the numbers he proscribes.

Regards.

.

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