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Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1998 00:32:00 +0100 From: Anonymous <nobody@replay.com>

In the following snippet of pseudo-code, what should the value of SWAP_TIMES be to make the array A[] random, assuming that getrand() returned a truly random integer between 0 and 255

A[256];

for(i=0;i<SWAP_TIMES;i++){ x=getrand(); y=getrand(); swap(A[x],A[y]); }

Each x and y is in and of itself random? If so it doesn't matter how often you swap the elements. While there are clearly different levels of pseudo-randomness, true randomness is or isn't. ____________________________________________________________________ To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice. Confucius The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage@ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------