From: Cassio Pennachin <pennachin@...>
Date: 2005-07-16T04:50:41+09:00
Subject: Re: [QUIZ] Sampling (#39)

> I think Jim's point was that if your last digit is 462470382 then you
> don't have a random sample... 

If by definition a random sample has to be uniform over the
range/population it samples, you  are correct.  Although even by such
definition it's possible that the last number would be this low in a
uniform sampling, the odds are very low.  And I know that my script
doesn't uniformly sample the range, as I said before.  I coded it to
be fast yet still meet the letter of the requirements.

The quiz seems to require a script that outputs a sorted series of
random numbers, with a given size and all between 0 and a given limit.
 My program meets all these criteria. Clearly, it is not a uniform
sample of the population -- and neither is any algorithm that
frequently generates 999999xxx for the last several entries.  There is
no reason to prefer one or the other, is there?

So feel free call my solution a mild abuse of the *spirit* of the
requirements in the name of entertainment ;-).

Cassio