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(Frandom): Eliminate bias in random number generator.

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Karl Heuer 1994-03-16 06:48:19 +00:00
parent 81a63ccc73
commit 78217ef17f
1 changed files with 13 additions and 8 deletions
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21
src/fns.c
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@ -55,24 +55,29 @@ With argument t, set the random number seed from the current time and pid.")
Lisp_Object limit;
{
int val;
unsigned long denominator;
extern long random ();
extern srandom ();
extern long time ();
if (EQ (limit, Qt))
srandom (getpid () + time (0));
val = random ();
if (XTYPE (limit) == Lisp_Int && XINT (limit) != 0)
if (XTYPE (limit) == Lisp_Int && XINT (limit) > 0)
{
/* Try to take our random number from the higher bits of VAL,
not the lower, since (says Gentzel) the low bits of `random'
are less random than the higher ones. */
val &= 0xfffffff; /* Ensure positive. */
val >>= 5;
if (XINT (limit) < 10000)
val >>= 6;
val %= XINT (limit);
are less random than the higher ones. We do this by using the
quotient rather than the remainder. At the high end of the RNG
it's possible to get a quotient larger than limit; discarding
these values eliminates the bias that would otherwise appear
when using a large limit. */
denominator = (unsigned long)0x80000000 / XFASTINT (limit);
do
val = (random () & 0x7fffffff) / denominator;
while (val >= limit);
}
else
val = random ();
return make_number (val);
}