random numbers

With other functions, you should be able to tweak it to your needs.
For example, to obtain the dice side #, you might want to use:

=TRUNC(RAND()*6)+1

RAND() * 6 -> between 0,6
Trunc -> 0,1,2,3,4,5
+1 -> 1,2,3,4,5,6

The odds of arriving exactly at 1.00000000000000 are 0.
Hope this helps.
Rejecting.

Also,

if you use the random normal generator and you don't set an approximate number of digits after the decimal, the output of rand() will be correct, but the cell will round the number by itself.

e.g. in cells rounds so it has 0 digits after the decimal.

0.423489324234 -> 0
0.543589423423 -> 1

You might want to make sure you have enough digits after the decimal.

The function I've used with my classroom was =ENT(ALEA()*6+1) so it was
near yours. But some children said me they had 7 as result once or twice
among 10000, what I've seen. It wasn't the lastest version of
openoffice, and it was under Windows XP. Under Linux, and 2.0.4, I've
not had this problem.

To have what I want, I've finally used =ALEA.ENTRE.BORNES(1;6) but it
wasn't very interesting to teach this way...

Thank's for your response, and sorry for my english.

Sébastien DUMORTIER.

Le jeudi 19 avril 2007 à 13:24 +0000, Philip Paquette a écrit :
> With other functions, you should be able to tweak it to your needs.
> For example, to obtain the dice side #, you might want to use:
>
> =TRUNC(RAND()*6)+1
>
> RAND() * 6 -> between 0,6
> Trunc -> 0,1,2,3,4,5
> +1 -> 1,2,3,4,5,6
>
> The odds of arriving exactly at 1.00000000000000 are 0.
> Hope this helps.
> Rejecting.
>
> ** Changed in: openoffice.org (Ubuntu)
> Status: Unconfirmed => Rejected
>

Yes, certainly, but it wasn't this mistake ;-)

Le jeudi 19 avril 2007 à 13:27 +0000, Philip Paquette a écrit :
> Also,
>
> if you use the random normal generator and you don't set an approximate
> number of digits after the decimal, the output of rand() will be
> correct, but the cell will round the number by itself.
>
> e.g. in cells rounds so it has 0 digits after the decimal.
>
> 0.423489324234 -> 0
> 0.543589423423 -> 1
>
> You might want to make sure you have enough digits after the decimal.
>

I regret to say that You were wrong, Philip.

The odds of arriving exactly at 1.00000000000000 were NOT 0.
Indeed they happen once in around several tens of thousands of times.

I made this checked by doing this...

1. I used a formula "=int(rand())"
2. I pasted it in area of "A1:T50000"
    This means I tried 1,000,000 cells.
3. in cell U1 I made a formula "=MAX(A1:T50000)"
4. U1 says "1 " insted of "0". If Philip had been right, U1 should be "0".
5 Then I counted the cells which say 1.
6 There were 20-40 such cells. The number of such cells varies time to time.

You should have tried it !!

Do you still have this problem with Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Lucid)? I got a result of 0 for the test that Andy mentioned.

We're closing this bug since it is has been some time with no response from the original reporter. However, if the issue still exists please feel free to reopen with the requested information. Also, if you could, please test against the latest development version of Ubuntu, since this confirms the bug is one we may be able to pass upstream for help.