Quote:
Originally Posted by bassplayinMacFiend
Enki:
To get truly random numbers in Excel, you'll have to write code in VBA and use the Randomize function. The generic RAND() function only generates pseudo-random numbers. IIRC, this is also true in Java and on *NIX-based OSs.
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I know about the pseudo-randomness, it is impossible to generate a true random stream electronically, even with VBA which is only pseudo-random as well (although possibly not as broken as XL). It's just that Excels stream for many years was only 16K deep before repeating, I believe it is 32K deep now. Those truly suck and don't meet even the definition of pseudo-random, they are just long repeating series that are completely predictable once you have the first repeat value.
Now if I need to do something that requires programming, I don't use Excel or a VBA hack, I code it.