Re: The probability of returning zero by math.random is doubled.

["Mark Meijer" <meijer78@...>]

Doh... Correction to my first post: The value range of 'r' is never
inclusive of 1, even if rand() is inclusive of RAND_MAX, and that's
due to the modulo RAND_MAX operation (in the original code). So my
previous post can largely be ignored.

Although it does mean the modulo is needed not only for the mentioned
SunOS issue (and therefore it does not preserve the statistical
properties of rand() on any platform, as mentioned by OP).

And, I still think the "floor(r*u)+1" calculation does NOT preserve
the statistical properties of whatever rand() returns, and should
instead be "floor(r*u+.5)" (e.g. consider the case when r*u == .4, I
believe that should be rounded to 0 instead of 1).

Cheers.

2008/9/18 Mark Meijer <meijer78@gmail.com>:
> The manual does state that "No guarantees can be given for its
> statistical properties." I'm no maths expert, but this seems
> especially true if rand can indeed return values greater than
> RAND_MAX, as is claimed for SunOS (unless its range is exactly a
> multiple of RAND_MAX).
>
> When I looked at the relevant code in lmathlib.c, though, something
> else occured to me. For reference, here is that code:
>
> ---------->8----------
> static int math_random (lua_State *L) {
>  /* the `%' avoids the (rare) case of r==1, and is needed also because on
>     some systems (SunOS!) `rand()' may return a value larger than RAND_MAX */
>  lua_Number r = (lua_Number)(rand()%RAND_MAX) / (lua_Number)RAND_MAX;
>  switch (lua_gettop(L)) {  /* check number of arguments */
>    case 0: {  /* no arguments */
>      lua_pushnumber(L, r);  /* Number between 0 and 1 */
>      break;
>    }
>    case 1: {  /* only upper limit */
>      int u = luaL_checkint(L, 1);
>      luaL_argcheck(L, 1<=u, 1, "interval is empty");
>      lua_pushnumber(L, floor(r*u)+1);  /* int between 1 and `u' */
>      break;
>    }
>    case 2: {  /* lower and upper limits */
>      int l = luaL_checkint(L, 1);
>      int u = luaL_checkint(L, 2);
>      luaL_argcheck(L, l<=u, 2, "interval is empty");
>      lua_pushnumber(L, floor(r*(u-l+1))+l);  /* int between `l' and `u' */
>      break;
>    }
>    default: return luaL_error(L, "wrong number of arguments");
>  }
>  return 1;
> }
> ----------8<----------
>
> Firstly, the range returned by math.random() is stated in the manual
> to be in the range [0,1) which (I believe) means  the 1 is exclusive
> (i.e. it should never actually return 1). I think in the range from C
> rand() the RAND_MAX is inclusive. So, the (original) scaling
> calculation done in lmathlib.c tells me math.random() can actually
> return 1. OP's patch prevents this, although I don't believe that
> patch is an improvement to the statistical properties of the returned
> value. I believe the original calculation preserves the statistical
> properties of whatever is returned by rand(), except for the SunOS
> issue. But again, I'm no maths expert.
>
> Secondly, when arguments are passed to math.random to indicate a
> desired range, according to the manual, the returned value is
> inclusive of both the min and max value of that range. But due to the
> first issue, the returned value could potentially exceed the requested
> maximum value, by 1 (i.e. in case 1, if r==1 and u==1 then
> floor(1*1)+1 == 2). This is fixed if the range of 'r' is made to be
> exclusive of 1. Although, to improve it's statistical properties, the
> calculation should rather be "floor(r*u+.5)", I think.
>
> Cheers
>
>
> 2008/9/18 Atry <pop.atry@gmail.com>:
>> In math_random(), whether rand() returns 0 or RAND_MAX, the result of
>> math_random() would be 0. It should modulo RAND_MAX + 1 instead of
>> modulo RAND_MAX.
>>
>> --- lua-5.1.4/src/lmathlib.c
>> +++ lua-5.1.4/src/lmathlib.c
>> @@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ static int math_max (lua_State *L) {
>>  static int math_random (lua_State *L) {
>>   /* the `%' avoids the (rare) case of r==1, and is needed also because on
>>      some systems (SunOS!) `rand()' may return a value larger than RAND_MAX */
>> -  lua_Number r = (lua_Number)(rand()%RAND_MAX) / (lua_Number)RAND_MAX;
>> +  lua_Number r = (lua_Number)(rand()%(RAND_MAX + 1)) /
>> (lua_Number)(RAND_MAX + 1);
>>   switch (lua_gettop(L)) {  /* check number of arguments */
>>     case 0: {  /* no arguments */
>>       lua_pushnumber(L, r);  /* Number between 0 and 1 */
>>
>