So the following code makes 0 < r < 1
r = ((double) rand() / (RAND_MAX))
Why does having r = ((double) rand() / (RAND_MAX + 1))
make -1 < r < 0?
Shouldn't adding one to RAND_MAX make 1 < r < 2?
Edit: I was getting a warning: integer overflow in expression
on that line, so that might be the problem. I just did cout << r << endl
and it definitely gives me values between -1 and 0
This is entirely implementation specific, but it appears that in the C++ environment you're working in, RAND_MAX
is equal to INT_MAX
.
Because of this, RAND_MAX + 1
exhibits undefined (overflow) behavior, and becomes INT_MIN
. While your initial statement was dividing (random # between 0 and INT_MAX
)/(INT_MAX
) and generating a value 0 <= r < 1
, now it's dividing (random # between 0 and INT_MAX
)/(INT_MIN
), generating a value -1 < r <= 0
In order to generate a random number 1 <= r < 2
, you would want
r = ((double) rand() / (RAND_MAX)) + 1