Monday 1 January 2018

javascript - Random number generator doesn't produce expected numbers within a given range using values from input fields





I'm trying to generate a random number between two given values. I'm
able to produce this with a pretty standard little function, however when I try to set
the maximum and minimum values through an input field, I get some unexpected
results.



This is using jQuery, which isn't
necessary for this particular function but is needed for the larger
project.




Here's an example of what
I'm finding:



href="https://jsfiddle.net/u2k41hzd/" rel="nofollow
noreferrer">https://jsfiddle.net/u2k41hzd/



function
randomNumber(min, max) {
points = Math.floor(Math.random() * (max - min + 1)
+ min);
}

$( "button" ).on( "click", function ( event )
{
minPoints = $( ".min-points" ).val();

maxPoints = $(
".max-points" ).val();
randomNumber(minPoints, maxPoints);

$(".random").html(points);
});


In
the case of the minimum number being 1 and the maximum being 6, I would expect to get
numbers between 1 and 6. However, I get numbers between 0 and 5.



If the minimum number is 2 and the maximum 6, I
would expect to get numbers between 2 and 6, but get numbers between 0 and 4. Passing in
3 and 6 gives numbers between 0 and 3, and so
on.




Ignoring the input values and
hard coding them instead seems produce expected results with no issue. Essentially I'm
just unsure as to why the input values are behaving as they are. I'm sure I've just
misunderstood something or made a mistake somewhere, but I've not been able to determine
the reason!


itemprop="text">
class="normal">Answer



The issue
is that you need to add the min to the rounded number, not to
the randomly generated
number:



function randomNumber(min,
max) {
points = Math.floor(Math.random() * (max - min + 1)) +
min;
}


To
explain further, for the case of 2 and
9:





  1. Math.random()
    generates a number between 0 and 0.999999999...

  2. max - min
    + 1 = 8

  3. So the generated number will be in the range 8 *
    0 and 8 * 0.99999999...

  4. Flooring it will round down in
    the range [0, 7]

  5. The result would need to be offset by
    the starting number (i.e. the minimum allowed number -
    2)


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