Random integer

[Nick Davis]

Hi all,

I'm quite desperate because I fail to understand why random(+IntExpr) won't generate a single integer but only float numbers between 0 and 1. I'm using the standard SWI-Prolog implementation and can't see why it won't generate an integer.

My aim is to randomly select an element from a list by using nth0, so I definitely need an integer.

Help would be much appreciated.

Yours,

Nick
 

[Nick Davis]

Hi,

I'm sorry for bothering you, I've actually found a solution myself: Simply use random_between_3.

[m00nlight]

Hi Davis,

You could use random_member(+Elem, +List) to get an random element of a list.

You can find more swi-prolog random related predicates at

http://www.swi-prolog.org/pldoc/man?section=random

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[Jan Wielemaker]

On Thursday, June 26, 2014 11:37:26 AM UTC+2, Nick Davis wrote:

Hi all,

I'm quite desperate because I fail to understand why random(+IntExpr) won't generate a single integer but only float numbers between 0 and 1. I'm using the standard SWI-Prolog implementation and can't see why it won't generate an integer.

Because it is an _arithmetic function_.  So, you need

    ?- A is random(6).
    A = 2.

You see this at http://www.swi-prolog.org/pldoc/doc_for?object=f%28random/1%29 because it says
"Availability:Arithmetic function (see is/2)"

There is also a _predicate_ random/1 from library(random), which indeed returns a float.  See
http://www.swi-prolog.org/pldoc/doc_for?object=random/1

      Cheers --- Jan