How do I represent the smallest ever possibility in JavaScript? - javascript

I want to design a function that would return true most of the time but theoretically could return false.
So far, all I've come up with is (with comments added, due to some confusion):
function true(seed) {
// Poop, you can't `seed` Math.random()!
return Math.random() !== Math.random();
}
// but if I had that seed, and Math.random() was seedable,
// I could make this function return false.
However, this runs into a few limitations.
Math.random() by implementation is not seedable therefore calling a random number generator twice in a row (with no other entropy) will never return the same number twice.
Math.random() will return a value between 0.0000000000000000 and 0.9999999999999999, which is sixteen digits of precision. So according to Binomial Distribution the probability of true not being true is (1/9999999999999999)^2. Or 1.0 e-32.
What I am trying to build is something that would only return false in the probability of 1/some integer that grows larger and larger. This is purely a thought experiment. There is no constraint on space and time, although if your answer has considered that as well then that's a bonus.
EDIT: I guess, here is another way to ask this question.
Take a look at this Plunker. https://plnkr.co/edit/C8lTSy1fWrbXRCR9i1zY?p=preview
<script src="//cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/seedrandom/2.4.0/seedrandom.min.js"></script>
function f(seed) {
Math.seedrandom(seed);
return 0.7781282080210712 === Math.random();
}
console.log(f()); // Behaves as expected
console.log(f(Math.random())); // Pretty much everything returns false
function t(seed) {
Math.seedrandom(seed);
return 0.7781282080210712 !== Math.random();
}
console.log(t()); // Returns true.
console.log(t(Math.random())); // All is well with the world.
// But, if you have the right seed!
console.log(f('Udia')); // Holy shit, this returned true!
console.log(t('Udia')); // Holy shit, this returned false!
What is the most interesting way to write a function that returns true? It can run forever, take up as much space as possible, etc. But it must return true. (and have the smallest probability of returning false.)

Fill buffers of whatever size you want with random data, and compare them.
Untested, but try something like this:
const length = 32768;
let values = [
new Uint8Array(length),
new Uint8Array(length)
];
window.crypto.getRandomValues(values[0]);
window.crypto.getRandomValues(values[1]);
let i;
for (i=0; i<length; i++) {
if (values[0][i] === values[1][i]) {
break;
}
}
if (i === length-1) {
console.log('The (nearly) impossible has occurred!');
}

Since Math.random() will not yield the same number twice in a row, do this:
var improbabilityDrive = Math.random();
var discard = Math.random();
function true() {
return Math.random() !== improbabilityDrive;
}
Or, if you don't want global variables, just discard the next few results:
function true() {
var improbabilityDrive = Math.random();
var discard = Math.random();
discard = Math.random();
discard = Math.random();
//... more discards, if necessary
return Math.random() !== improbabilityDrive;
}
Edit: Drop Probability each time it's called
OP asked if it's possible to make it less and less likely to return (false, I think is what you meant?)
var hitsRequired = 0.0;
var improbabilityDrive = Math.random();
//Increasingly Lower Chance of 'false' With Each Call
function superTrue() {
hitsRequired += 0.1; //Set Growth Factor here (algebraic: +=, geometric: *=)
for (int i = 0; i < hitsRequired; i++) {
if (trueish()) return true;
}
return false;
}
//Same Theoretically Low Chance of 'false' Each Call
function trueish() {
var discard = Math.random();
discard = Math.random();
discard = Math.random();
//... more discards, if necessary
return Math.random() !== improbabilityDrive;
}
Edit 2: Insanely Low Probability
After re-reading your question, I think you're after the most-low probability you can get. This is far, far, below reason:
//Increasingly Lower Chance of 'false' With Each Call
function superDuperTrue() {
for (int i = 0; i <= 9007199254740992; i++) {
if (trueish()) return true;
}
return false;
}
The probability that this produced a false is:
(1/4503599627370496) ^ 9007199254740992 = 10 ^ ( - 10 ^ 17.15)
That would, by almost any reasonable measure, be such an absurdly low probability that it could just be assumed to never happen. I'd be surprised if it would return a single false if tried a trillion times per second until the heat death of the universe - putting that into wolfram alpha didn't even drop the number of the probability (1 trillion * 10^100 years until heat death of the universe * 3,156,000 seconds / year * that probability = that probability, subject to 14 decimal places of accuracy).
Basically, it would never happen, but it theoretically possible.
At 1,000,000,000,000 tries per second:
For n=0, 38 minutes would yeild a 50% chance of a single false.
For n=1, 325 billion years would yeild a 50% chance of a single false.
For n=2, 1500000000000000000000000000 years (1.5 * 10^17), or 110000000000000000 times the age of the universe would yeild a 50% chance of a single false.
... Increase n up to the 9007199254740992, above, to make it as implausible as you desire.

One way to tune this yourself would be to repeat the process. E.g.:
function true() {
var n = 1000;
var first = Math.random();
for (var i = 0; i < n; i++) {
if (Math.random() !== first) {
return true;
}
}
return false;
}
Now your code in the original question is just the special case of n = 2, and the odds of returning false are 1/9999999999999999^(n-1).

You can get an adjustable probability with
return Math.random() > 0.00000001; // play with that number

Numbers in js are IEEE 754 doubles. So Math.random() returns values between 0 and 0.999999999999999888977697537484.
To calculate the number of possible unique return values is simpler. IEEE 754 doubles have 52 bit mantissa. So the number of possible return values is: 2^52 or 4503599627370496.
Which means, the smallest ever possibility is 1/4503599627370496.
Now, if you REALLY want the smallest possible probability just compare the output of Math.random() to one of it's unique outputs. Note that since not all decimal numbers are representable as floats you should use a number that has an exact representation. For example 0.5.
So, the smallest possible probability is:
Math.random() === 0.5
Which has exactly 1 in 4503599627370496 chance of happening. The theoretical smallest probability.
So if you want your function to return true most of the time you should do:
function true() {
return Math.random() !== 0.5;
}
Warning
Note that this may not be what you want. It is very, very rare for this smallest probability to happen. As a test I ran the following code:
for (i=0;i<1000000000;i++){ // loop to one billion
foo=Math.random();
if (foo === 0.5) {
console.log('>>> ' + i)
}
}
I ran the above loop five times and only observed the console.log() output once. In theory you should expect to see the event happen once every 4.5 quadrillion times you call that function. Which means that if you call the function once each second it will see the it return false roughly once every 143 million years.

Related

How to implement an algorithm to detect if a number has 2 consecutive digits?

I want to create a function that returns true if a number has consecutive digits or not,
example:
if the input is 11, it will return true
if the input is 21 it will return false
if the input is 323 it will return false because even though we have 3 repeated, they are not consecutive
My solution right now is to transform the number into an array and loop through the number one by one, if the next number is equal to the current number then we just return true. But this has a complexity time of O(n) and I was wondering if anyone can come with a better solution.
Thank you
There is an arguably better solution where you don't need to convert the number into a string or array of numbers/character. It works as follows:
Initialize a variable curr to -1.
Run a loop while num > 0 and do the following:
next_curr = num % 10
if next_curr == curr: return true
curr = next_curr
num = num / 10 (integer division)
If the loop completes, return false.
This is a one pass O(log n) time complexity algorithm where n is the input number. The space complexity is O(1)
Note that while your algorithm was also O(log n) time complexity, it did 2 passes, and had a space complexity of O(log n) too.
I haven't written JS for some time now, but here's a possible implementation of the above algorithm in JS:
function sameAdjacentDigits(num) {
// to deal with negative numbers and
// avoid potential problems when using Math.floor later
num = Math.abs(num)
let curr = -1
while (num > 0) {
const nextCurr = num % 10
if (nextCurr == curr) return true
curr = nextCurr
num = Math.floor(num / 10)
}
return false
}
Use some regex, and then check what was found via the matcher
numbers_match = /(00|11|22|33|44|55|66|77|88|99)/;
numbers_match.match("11")
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/String/match
Easiest way to execute this is by using regex. Not sure what would be effectiveness of algorithm, but solution could be
/(\d)\1/
Inspired from #Tschallacka's answer:
let numbers = [11,21,323];
let result = numbers.map(n=>{
let test = n.toString().match(/(00|11|22|33|44|55|66|77|88|99)/);
return test != null;
})
console.log(result);

is nanoid's random algorithm really better then random % alphabet? [duplicate]

I have seen this question asked a lot but never seen a true concrete answer to it. So I am going to post one here which will hopefully help people understand why exactly there is "modulo bias" when using a random number generator, like rand() in C++.
So rand() is a pseudo-random number generator which chooses a natural number between 0 and RAND_MAX, which is a constant defined in cstdlib (see this article for a general overview on rand()).
Now what happens if you want to generate a random number between say 0 and 2? For the sake of explanation, let's say RAND_MAX is 10 and I decide to generate a random number between 0 and 2 by calling rand()%3. However, rand()%3 does not produce the numbers between 0 and 2 with equal probability!
When rand() returns 0, 3, 6, or 9, rand()%3 == 0. Therefore, P(0) = 4/11
When rand() returns 1, 4, 7, or 10, rand()%3 == 1. Therefore, P(1) = 4/11
When rand() returns 2, 5, or 8, rand()%3 == 2. Therefore, P(2) = 3/11
This does not generate the numbers between 0 and 2 with equal probability. Of course for small ranges this might not be the biggest issue but for a larger range this could skew the distribution, biasing the smaller numbers.
So when does rand()%n return a range of numbers from 0 to n-1 with equal probability? When RAND_MAX%n == n - 1. In this case, along with our earlier assumption rand() does return a number between 0 and RAND_MAX with equal probability, the modulo classes of n would also be equally distributed.
So how do we solve this problem? A crude way is to keep generating random numbers until you get a number in your desired range:
int x;
do {
x = rand();
} while (x >= n);
but that's inefficient for low values of n, since you only have a n/RAND_MAX chance of getting a value in your range, and so you'll need to perform RAND_MAX/n calls to rand() on average.
A more efficient formula approach would be to take some large range with a length divisible by n, like RAND_MAX - RAND_MAX % n, keep generating random numbers until you get one that lies in the range, and then take the modulus:
int x;
do {
x = rand();
} while (x >= (RAND_MAX - RAND_MAX % n));
x %= n;
For small values of n, this will rarely require more than one call to rand().
Works cited and further reading:
CPlusPlus Reference
Eternally Confuzzled
Keep selecting a random is a good way to remove the bias.
Update
We could make the code fast if we search for an x in range divisible by n.
// Assumptions
// rand() in [0, RAND_MAX]
// n in (0, RAND_MAX]
int x;
// Keep searching for an x in a range divisible by n
do {
x = rand();
} while (x >= RAND_MAX - (RAND_MAX % n))
x %= n;
The above loop should be very fast, say 1 iteration on average.
#user1413793 is correct about the problem. I'm not going to discuss that further, except to make one point: yes, for small values of n and large values of RAND_MAX, the modulo bias can be very small. But using a bias-inducing pattern means that you must consider the bias every time you calculate a random number and choose different patterns for different cases. And if you make the wrong choice, the bugs it introduces are subtle and almost impossible to unit test. Compared to just using the proper tool (such as arc4random_uniform), that's extra work, not less work. Doing more work and getting a worse solution is terrible engineering, especially when doing it right every time is easy on most platforms.
Unfortunately, the implementations of the solution are all incorrect or less efficient than they should be. (Each solution has various comments explaining the problems, but none of the solutions have been fixed to address them.) This is likely to confuse the casual answer-seeker, so I'm providing a known-good implementation here.
Again, the best solution is just to use arc4random_uniform on platforms that provide it, or a similar ranged solution for your platform (such as Random.nextInt on Java). It will do the right thing at no code cost to you. This is almost always the correct call to make.
If you don't have arc4random_uniform, then you can use the power of opensource to see exactly how it is implemented on top of a wider-range RNG (ar4random in this case, but a similar approach could also work on top of other RNGs).
Here is the OpenBSD implementation:
/*
* Calculate a uniformly distributed random number less than upper_bound
* avoiding "modulo bias".
*
* Uniformity is achieved by generating new random numbers until the one
* returned is outside the range [0, 2**32 % upper_bound). This
* guarantees the selected random number will be inside
* [2**32 % upper_bound, 2**32) which maps back to [0, upper_bound)
* after reduction modulo upper_bound.
*/
u_int32_t
arc4random_uniform(u_int32_t upper_bound)
{
u_int32_t r, min;
if (upper_bound < 2)
return 0;
/* 2**32 % x == (2**32 - x) % x */
min = -upper_bound % upper_bound;
/*
* This could theoretically loop forever but each retry has
* p > 0.5 (worst case, usually far better) of selecting a
* number inside the range we need, so it should rarely need
* to re-roll.
*/
for (;;) {
r = arc4random();
if (r >= min)
break;
}
return r % upper_bound;
}
It is worth noting the latest commit comment on this code for those who need to implement similar things:
Change arc4random_uniform() to calculate 2**32 % upper_bound as
-upper_bound % upper_bound. Simplifies the code and makes it the
same on both ILP32 and LP64 architectures, and also slightly faster on
LP64 architectures by using a 32-bit remainder instead of a 64-bit
remainder.
Pointed out by Jorden Verwer on tech#
ok deraadt; no objections from djm or otto
The Java implementation is also easily findable (see previous link):
public int nextInt(int n) {
if (n <= 0)
throw new IllegalArgumentException("n must be positive");
if ((n & -n) == n) // i.e., n is a power of 2
return (int)((n * (long)next(31)) >> 31);
int bits, val;
do {
bits = next(31);
val = bits % n;
} while (bits - val + (n-1) < 0);
return val;
}
Definition
Modulo Bias is the inherent bias in using modulo arithmetic to reduce an output set to a subset of the input set. In general, a bias exists whenever the mapping between the input and output set is not equally distributed, as in the case of using modulo arithmetic when the size of the output set is not a divisor of the size of the input set.
This bias is particularly hard to avoid in computing, where numbers are represented as strings of bits: 0s and 1s. Finding truly random sources of randomness is also extremely difficult, but is beyond the scope of this discussion. For the remainder of this answer, assume that there exists an unlimited source of truly random bits.
Problem Example
Let's consider simulating a die roll (0 to 5) using these random bits. There are 6 possibilities, so we need enough bits to represent the number 6, which is 3 bits. Unfortunately, 3 random bits yields 8 possible outcomes:
000 = 0, 001 = 1, 010 = 2, 011 = 3
100 = 4, 101 = 5, 110 = 6, 111 = 7
We can reduce the size of the outcome set to exactly 6 by taking the value modulo 6, however this presents the modulo bias problem: 110 yields a 0, and 111 yields a 1. This die is loaded.
Potential Solutions
Approach 0:
Rather than rely on random bits, in theory one could hire a small army to roll dice all day and record the results in a database, and then use each result only once. This is about as practical as it sounds, and more than likely would not yield truly random results anyway (pun intended).
Approach 1:
Instead of using the modulus, a naive but mathematically correct solution is to discard results that yield 110 and 111 and simply try again with 3 new bits. Unfortunately, this means that there is a 25% chance on each roll that a re-roll will be required, including each of the re-rolls themselves. This is clearly impractical for all but the most trivial of uses.
Approach 2:
Use more bits: instead of 3 bits, use 4. This yield 16 possible outcomes. Of course, re-rolling anytime the result is greater than 5 makes things worse (10/16 = 62.5%) so that alone won't help.
Notice that 2 * 6 = 12 < 16, so we can safely take any outcome less than 12 and reduce that modulo 6 to evenly distribute the outcomes. The other 4 outcomes must be discarded, and then re-rolled as in the previous approach.
Sounds good at first, but let's check the math:
4 discarded results / 16 possibilities = 25%
In this case, 1 extra bit didn't help at all!
That result is unfortunate, but let's try again with 5 bits:
32 % 6 = 2 discarded results; and
2 discarded results / 32 possibilities = 6.25%
A definite improvement, but not good enough in many practical cases. The good news is, adding more bits will never increase the chances of needing to discard and re-roll. This holds not just for dice, but in all cases.
As demonstrated however, adding an 1 extra bit may not change anything. In fact if we increase our roll to 6 bits, the probability remains 6.25%.
This begs 2 additional questions:
If we add enough bits, is there a guarantee that the probability of a discard will diminish?
How many bits are enough in the general case?
General Solution
Thankfully the answer to the first question is yes. The problem with 6 is that 2^x mod 6 flips between 2 and 4 which coincidentally are a multiple of 2 from each other, so that for an even x > 1,
[2^x mod 6] / 2^x == [2^(x+1) mod 6] / 2^(x+1)
Thus 6 is an exception rather than the rule. It is possible to find larger moduli that yield consecutive powers of 2 in the same way, but eventually this must wrap around, and the probability of a discard will be reduced.
Without offering further proof, in general using double the number
of bits required will provide a smaller, usually insignificant,
chance of a discard.
Proof of Concept
Here is an example program that uses OpenSSL's libcrypo to supply random bytes. When compiling, be sure to link to the library with -lcrypto which most everyone should have available.
#include <iostream>
#include <assert.h>
#include <limits>
#include <openssl/rand.h>
volatile uint32_t dummy;
uint64_t discardCount;
uint32_t uniformRandomUint32(uint32_t upperBound)
{
assert(RAND_status() == 1);
uint64_t discard = (std::numeric_limits<uint64_t>::max() - upperBound) % upperBound;
RAND_bytes((uint8_t*)(&randomPool), sizeof(randomPool));
while(randomPool > (std::numeric_limits<uint64_t>::max() - discard)) {
RAND_bytes((uint8_t*)(&randomPool), sizeof(randomPool));
++discardCount;
}
return randomPool % upperBound;
}
int main() {
discardCount = 0;
const uint32_t MODULUS = (1ul << 31)-1;
const uint32_t ROLLS = 10000000;
for(uint32_t i = 0; i < ROLLS; ++i) {
dummy = uniformRandomUint32(MODULUS);
}
std::cout << "Discard count = " << discardCount << std::endl;
}
I encourage playing with the MODULUS and ROLLS values to see how many re-rolls actually happen under most conditions. A sceptical person may also wish to save the computed values to file and verify the distribution appears normal.
Mark's Solution (The accepted solution) is Nearly Perfect.
int x;
do {
x = rand();
} while (x >= (RAND_MAX - RAND_MAX % n));
x %= n;
edited Mar 25 '16 at 23:16
Mark Amery 39k21170211
However, it has a caveat which discards 1 valid set of outcomes in any scenario where RAND_MAX (RM) is 1 less than a multiple of N (Where N = the Number of possible valid outcomes).
ie, When the 'count of values discarded' (D) is equal to N, then they are actually a valid set (V), not an invalid set (I).
What causes this is at some point Mark loses sight of the difference between N and Rand_Max.
N is a set who's valid members are comprised only of Positive Integers, as it contains a count of responses that would be valid. (eg: Set N = {1, 2, 3, ... n } )
Rand_max However is a set which ( as defined for our purposes ) includes any number of non-negative integers.
In it's most generic form, what is defined here as Rand Max is the Set of all valid outcomes, which could theoretically include negative numbers or non-numeric values.
Therefore Rand_Max is better defined as the set of "Possible Responses".
However N operates against the count of the values within the set of valid responses, so even as defined in our specific case, Rand_Max will be a value one less than the total number it contains.
Using Mark's Solution, Values are Discarded when: X => RM - RM % N
EG:
Ran Max Value (RM) = 255
Valid Outcome (N) = 4
When X => 252, Discarded values for X are: 252, 253, 254, 255
So, if Random Value Selected (X) = {252, 253, 254, 255}
Number of discarded Values (I) = RM % N + 1 == N
IE:
I = RM % N + 1
I = 255 % 4 + 1
I = 3 + 1
I = 4
X => ( RM - RM % N )
255 => (255 - 255 % 4)
255 => (255 - 3)
255 => (252)
Discard Returns $True
As you can see in the example above, when the value of X (the random number we get from the initial function) is 252, 253, 254, or 255 we would discard it even though these four values comprise a valid set of returned values.
IE: When the count of the values Discarded (I) = N (The number of valid outcomes) then a Valid set of return values will be discarded by the original function.
If we describe the difference between the values N and RM as D, ie:
D = (RM - N)
Then as the value of D becomes smaller, the Percentage of unneeded re-rolls due to this method increases at each natural multiplicative. (When RAND_MAX is NOT equal to a Prime Number this is of valid concern)
EG:
RM=255 , N=2 Then: D = 253, Lost percentage = 0.78125%
RM=255 , N=4 Then: D = 251, Lost percentage = 1.5625%
RM=255 , N=8 Then: D = 247, Lost percentage = 3.125%
RM=255 , N=16 Then: D = 239, Lost percentage = 6.25%
RM=255 , N=32 Then: D = 223, Lost percentage = 12.5%
RM=255 , N=64 Then: D = 191, Lost percentage = 25%
RM=255 , N= 128 Then D = 127, Lost percentage = 50%
Since the percentage of Rerolls needed increases the closer N comes to RM, this can be of valid concern at many different values depending on the constraints of the system running he code and the values being looked for.
To negate this we can make a simple amendment As shown here:
int x;
do {
x = rand();
} while (x > (RAND_MAX - ( ( ( RAND_MAX % n ) + 1 ) % n) );
x %= n;
This provides a more general version of the formula which accounts for the additional peculiarities of using modulus to define your max values.
Examples of using a small value for RAND_MAX which is a multiplicative of N.
Mark'original Version:
RAND_MAX = 3, n = 2, Values in RAND_MAX = 0,1,2,3, Valid Sets = 0,1 and 2,3.
When X >= (RAND_MAX - ( RAND_MAX % n ) )
When X >= 2 the value will be discarded, even though the set is valid.
Generalized Version 1:
RAND_MAX = 3, n = 2, Values in RAND_MAX = 0,1,2,3, Valid Sets = 0,1 and 2,3.
When X > (RAND_MAX - ( ( RAND_MAX % n ) + 1 ) % n )
When X > 3 the value would be discarded, but this is not a vlue in the set RAND_MAX so there will be no discard.
Additionally, in the case where N should be the number of values in RAND_MAX; in this case, you could set N = RAND_MAX +1, unless RAND_MAX = INT_MAX.
Loop-wise you could just use N = 1, and any value of X will be accepted, however, and put an IF statement in for your final multiplier. But perhaps you have code that may have a valid reason to return a 1 when the function is called with n = 1...
So it may be better to use 0, which would normally provide a Div 0 Error, when you wish to have n = RAND_MAX+1
Generalized Version 2:
int x;
if n != 0 {
do {
x = rand();
} while (x > (RAND_MAX - ( ( ( RAND_MAX % n ) + 1 ) % n) );
x %= n;
} else {
x = rand();
}
Both of these solutions resolve the issue with needlessly discarded valid results which will occur when RM+1 is a product of n.
The second version also covers the edge case scenario when you need n to equal the total possible set of values contained in RAND_MAX.
The modified approach in both is the same and allows for a more general solution to the need of providing valid random numbers and minimizing discarded values.
To reiterate:
The Basic General Solution which extends mark's example:
// Assumes:
// RAND_MAX is a globally defined constant, returned from the environment.
// int n; // User input, or externally defined, number of valid choices.
int x;
do {
x = rand();
} while (x > (RAND_MAX - ( ( ( RAND_MAX % n ) + 1 ) % n) ) );
x %= n;
The Extended General Solution which Allows one additional scenario of RAND_MAX+1 = n:
// Assumes:
// RAND_MAX is a globally defined constant, returned from the environment.
// int n; // User input, or externally defined, number of valid choices.
int x;
if n != 0 {
do {
x = rand();
} while (x > (RAND_MAX - ( ( ( RAND_MAX % n ) + 1 ) % n) ) );
x %= n;
} else {
x = rand();
}
In some languages ( particularly interpreted languages ) doing the calculations of the compare-operation outside of the while condition may lead to faster results as this is a one-time calculation no matter how many re-tries are required. YMMV!
// Assumes:
// RAND_MAX is a globally defined constant, returned from the environment.
// int n; // User input, or externally defined, number of valid choices.
int x; // Resulting random number
int y; // One-time calculation of the compare value for x
y = RAND_MAX - ( ( ( RAND_MAX % n ) + 1 ) % n)
if n != 0 {
do {
x = rand();
} while (x > y);
x %= n;
} else {
x = rand();
}
There are two usual complaints with the use of modulo.
one is valid for all generators. It is easier to see in a limit case. If your generator has a RAND_MAX which is 2 (that isn't compliant with the C standard) and you want only 0 or 1 as value, using modulo will generate 0 twice as often (when the generator generates 0 and 2) as it will generate 1 (when the generator generates 1). Note that this is true as soon as you don't drop values, whatever the mapping you are using from the generator values to the wanted one, one will occurs twice as often as the other.
some kind of generator have their less significant bits less random than the other, at least for some of their parameters, but sadly those parameter have other interesting characteristic (such has being able to have RAND_MAX one less than a power of 2). The problem is well known and for a long time library implementation probably avoid the problem (for instance the sample rand() implementation in the C standard use this kind of generator, but drop the 16 less significant bits), but some like to complain about that and you may have bad luck
Using something like
int alea(int n){
assert (0 < n && n <= RAND_MAX);
int partSize =
n == RAND_MAX ? 1 : 1 + (RAND_MAX-n)/(n+1);
int maxUsefull = partSize * n + (partSize-1);
int draw;
do {
draw = rand();
} while (draw > maxUsefull);
return draw/partSize;
}
to generate a random number between 0 and n will avoid both problems (and it avoids overflow with RAND_MAX == INT_MAX)
BTW, C++11 introduced standard ways to the the reduction and other generator than rand().
With a RAND_MAX value of 3 (in reality it should be much higher than that but the bias would still exist) it makes sense from these calculations that there is a bias:
1 % 2 = 1
2 % 2 = 0
3 % 2 = 1
random_between(1, 3) % 2 = more likely a 1
In this case, the % 2 is what you shouldn't do when you want a random number between 0 and 1. You could get a random number between 0 and 2 by doing % 3 though, because in this case: RAND_MAX is a multiple of 3.
Another method
There is much simpler but to add to other answers, here is my solution to get a random number between 0 and n - 1, so n different possibilities, without bias.
the number of bits (not bytes) needed to encode the number of possibilities is the number of bits of random data you'll need
encode the number from random bits
if this number is >= n, restart (no modulo).
Really random data is not easy to obtain, so why use more bits than needed.
Below is an example in Smalltalk, using a cache of bits from a pseudo-random number generator. I'm no security expert so use at your own risk.
next: n
| bitSize r from to |
n < 0 ifTrue: [^0 - (self next: 0 - n)].
n = 0 ifTrue: [^nil].
n = 1 ifTrue: [^0].
cache isNil ifTrue: [cache := OrderedCollection new].
cache size < (self randmax highBit) ifTrue: [
Security.DSSRandom default next asByteArray do: [ :byte |
(1 to: 8) do: [ :i | cache add: (byte bitAt: i)]
]
].
r := 0.
bitSize := n highBit.
to := cache size.
from := to - bitSize + 1.
(from to: to) do: [ :i |
r := r bitAt: i - from + 1 put: (cache at: i)
].
cache removeFrom: from to: to.
r >= n ifTrue: [^self next: n].
^r
Modulo reduction is a commonly seen way to make a random integer generator avoid the worst case of running forever.
When the range of possible integers is unknown, however, there is no way in general to "fix" this worst case of running forever without introducing bias. It's not just modulo reduction (rand() % n, discussed in the accepted answer) that will introduce bias this way, but also the "multiply-and-shift" reduction of Daniel Lemire, or if you stop rejecting an outcome after a set number of iterations. (To be clear, this doesn't mean there is no way to fix the bias issues present in pseudorandom generators. For example, even though modulo and other reductions are biased in general, they will have no issues with bias if the range of possible integers is a power of 2 and if the random generator produces unbiased random bits or blocks of them.)
The following answer of mine discusses the relationship between running time and bias in random generators, assuming we have a "true" random generator that can produce unbiased and independent random bits. The answer doesn't even involve the rand() function in C because it has many issues. Perhaps the most serious here is the fact that the C standard does not explicitly specify a particular distribution for the numbers returned by rand(), not even a uniform distribution.
How to generate a random integer in the range [0,n] from a stream of random bits without wasting bits?
As the accepted answer indicates, "modulo bias" has its roots in the low value of RAND_MAX. He uses an extremely small value of RAND_MAX (10) to show that if RAND_MAX were 10, then you tried to generate a number between 0 and 2 using %, the following outcomes would result:
rand() % 3 // if RAND_MAX were only 10, gives
output of rand() | rand()%3
0 | 0
1 | 1
2 | 2
3 | 0
4 | 1
5 | 2
6 | 0
7 | 1
8 | 2
9 | 0
So there are 4 outputs of 0's (4/10 chance) and only 3 outputs of 1 and 2 (3/10 chances each).
So it's biased. The lower numbers have a better chance of coming out.
But that only shows up so obviously when RAND_MAX is small. Or more specifically, when the number your are modding by is large compared to RAND_MAX.
A much better solution than looping (which is insanely inefficient and shouldn't even be suggested) is to use a PRNG with a much larger output range. The Mersenne Twister algorithm has a maximum output of 4,294,967,295. As such doing MersenneTwister::genrand_int32() % 10 for all intents and purposes, will be equally distributed and the modulo bias effect will all but disappear.
I just wrote a code for Von Neumann's Unbiased Coin Flip Method, that should theoretically eliminate any bias in the random number generation process. More info can be found at (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_coin)
int unbiased_random_bit() {
int x1, x2, prev;
prev = 2;
x1 = rand() % 2;
x2 = rand() % 2;
for (;; x1 = rand() % 2, x2 = rand() % 2)
{
if (x1 ^ x2) // 01 -> 1, or 10 -> 0.
{
return x2;
}
else if (x1 & x2)
{
if (!prev) // 0011
return 1;
else
prev = 1; // 1111 -> continue, bias unresolved
}
else
{
if (prev == 1)// 1100
return 0;
else // 0000 -> continue, bias unresolved
prev = 0;
}
}
}

Decode a byte array to a signed integer up to 64 bit

I know that JavaScript can't precisely represent all 64 bit integer numbers. But it can precisely represent numbers larger than 32 bit. And that's what I need. With whatever precision JavaScript can give me.
I have a byte array of known length. It has 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16 bytes. And it can contain a signed or unsigned integer, I know which it is. The data is big-endian (network byte order).
How can I get the number value from that byte array?
There are simple solitions that completely fail on negative numbers. There's DataView that isn't of any help with more than 32 bits. I'm interested in a nice and simple and preferable efficient pure JavaScript solution to handle this. There doesn't seem to be any solution for this in the part of the web that's visible to me.
In case somebody wants to see wrong code, here is my version of positive numbers:
function readInt(array) {
var value = 0;
for (var i = array.length - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
value = (value * 256) + array[i];
}
return value;
}
This page explains a good and simple solution:
Add up all bits from the right end, up to the second most significant bit.
The most significant bit is not added as 2^i but as -2^i.
My code works in a larger scope that has an array and a pos to read from.
function readInt(size) {
var value = 0;
var first = true;
while (size--) {
if (first) {
let byte = array[pos++];
value += byte & 0x7f;
if (byte & 0x80) {
value -= 0x80; // Treat most-significant bit as -2^i instead of 2^i
}
first = false;
}
else {
value *= 256;
value += array[pos++];
}
}
return value;
}
The raw bytes are provided in array (a Uint8Array) and pos is the next index to read. This function starts to read at the current pos and advances pos as it reads one of the size bytes.

An algorithm to check if a number is an Extra Perfect Number (it has the same first and last bits) in javascript

This may seem obvious, but what is exactly is an extra perfect number? I need to write an algorithm to find extra perfect for a given n, from 1 thru n. Unfortunately, I can't seem to wrap my mind around the question's wording. These are the examples given:
extraPerfect(3) ==> return {1,3}
extraPerfect(7) ==> return {1,3,5,7}
Task:
Given a positive integer N, return the extra perfect numbers in range from 1 to N.
A number is called Extra Perfect Number if it has the same first and last bits (set bits).
Notes:
Only positive integers will be passed.
The returned vector/list should contain the extra perfect numbers in
ascending order (from lowest to highest).
Example #1
extraPerfect(3) ==> return {1,3}
Explanation:
(1)10 = (1)2
First and last bits as set bits.
(3)10 = (11)2
First and last bits as set bits.
Example #2
extraPerfect(7) ==> return {1,3,5,7}
Explanation:
(5)10 = (101)2
First and last bits as set bits.
(7)10 = (111)2
First and last bits as set bits.
It seems to me that an extra perfect number is simply an odd number as, in base 2, it will always start and end with a 1, whereas an even number will always start with a 1 but end with a 0.
Ah now I see I was wrong because I thought it is all about palindroms. However I hope it can be still helpful. That's the code for palindroms in section between 1 to prompt's value.
var exns = (function(){
function dec2bin(dec){
return (dec >>> 0).toString(2);
}
function isEXN(num){
var con = dec2bin(num); // 11011 = 3 + 24 = 27
var accurate = Math.ceil(con.length/2); // 5/2 = 3
var lenmin = con.length-1;
for(var i = 0; i < accurate; i++){
if(con.charAt(i) !== con.charAt(lenmin-i))
return false;
}
return true;
}
var max = parseInt(prompt("Numbers from 1 to ...?"));
var exns = [];
if(!isNaN(max)){
for(var i = 1; i<=max; i++){
if(isEXN(i))
exns.push(i);
}
}
return exns;
})();
Exns should contain array with values.
It looks like extraPerfect should return a list of all numbers less than the argument which have the same first and last digit after converting the decimal argument to binary.
For example:
Decimal - Binary
1 - 1
2 - 10
3 - 11
4 - 100
5 - 101
6 - 110
7 - 111
You'll notice the bold values have the same first and last binary digits.
Some pseudo-code might look like:
function extraPerfect( n ){
var perfects = [];
for(i=0; i<n; i++){
var binary = toBinary(i);
if(binary[0] === binary[binary.length]){
perfects.push(i);
}
}
return perfects;
}
You could pull an algorithm form the pseudo-code.
A Perfect Number is equal to the sum of its positive divisors.
function perfect(num){
for(var i=1,n=0; i<num; i++){
if(num % i === 0){
n += i;
}
}
return n === num;
}
console.log(perfect(6));
console.log(perfect(7));
console.log(perfect(28));
console.log(perfect(8127));
console.log(perfect(8128));

Simple movement calculation gives wrong result

I have this function.
Calculations.add(this, //CONTEXT
function () { //CALUCATE
this.position.x += (this.movementSpeed.x / 10);
},
function () { //HAVE CALCULATED
return (this.position.x === (tempX + this.movementSpeed.x));
}
);
I have run the result, but sometime the result is wrong. Cause I know that if it calculate 10 times, then the the HAVE CALCULATED whould be true.
But sometimes it never is... And that kills my app.
Let us say that the result should give 138, then after the calculation it give me 138.000000000006 which is not 138 and the HAVE CALCULATED is false..
How can I manage this= I can't use round, because it should be able to return 138.5, if the end-result is that.
Hope you understand my question.
Always floating point = comparisons should be done like this:
Math.abs( a - b ) < 1e-6
where 1e-6 is an arbitrary error threshold that you determine in advance
You should never compare floating point values this way. (The link from Waleed Khan in the comments gives a good explanation why this happens)
Instead you can do something like this to check equality of a and b:
if (a < b + 0.0001 && a > b - 0.0001) {
// values are "equal"
}
You could round to a certain number of digits, from another answer on SO use something like this:
function roundNumber(n, digits) {
var multiple = Math.pow(10, digits);
return Math.round(n * multiple) / multiple;;
}
This way you do not require fancy comparisons.

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