Hi, friends,
It seems that RANDOM() and RANDOM(FALSE) do not work as described in
the documentation. See example below.
Best regards,
--
Alexander
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Maxima version: 5.9.1
Maxima build date: 17:35 10/8/2004
host type: i586-pc-linux-gnu
lisp-implementation-type: Kyoto Common Lisp
lisp-implementation-version: GCL 2.6.5
-------------------------------------------------------------
(%i2) describe(random)$
0: RANDOM :(maxima.info)Definitions for Operators.
Info from file /usr/local/info/maxima.info:
- Function: RANDOM (X)
returns a random integer between 0 and X-1. If no argument is
given then a random integer between -2^(29) and 2^(29) -1 is
returned. If X is FALSE then the random sequence is restarted from
the beginning. Note that the range of the returned result when no
argument is given differs in NIL MACSYMA from that of PDP-10 and
Multics MACSYMA, which is -2^(35) to 2^(35) -1. This range is the
range of the FIXNUM datatype of the underlying LISP.
(%i3) random();
Maxima encountered a Lisp error:
Error in MACSYMA-TOP-LEVEL [or a callee]: MACSYMA-TOP-LEVEL [or a callee] requires more than zero arguments.
Automatically continuing.
To reenable the Lisp debugger set *debugger-hook* to nil.
(%i4) random(FALSE);
Maxima encountered a Lisp error:
Error in MACSYMA-TOP-LEVEL [or a callee]: NIL is not of type NUMBER.
Automatically continuing.
To reenable the Lisp debugger set *debugger-hook* to nil.
----NEXT IS OK----
(%i5) random(2^(29));
(%o5) 322055870