Path: csiph.com!news.mixmin.net!eternal-september.org!reader01.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Tim Rentsch Newsgroups: comp.lang.c Subject: Re: Compute Unique Numbers in a Set Date: Mon, 02 Jan 2023 20:52:02 -0800 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 40 Message-ID: <86k024p6dp.fsf@linuxsc.com> References: <87358sq1w7.fsf@bsb.me.uk> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Injection-Info: reader01.eternal-september.org; posting-host="cadf8b4f887ed22a851b24e8b9807b6b"; logging-data="2163297"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1+Cbw1RXx3ushQ9JxxNi5IAQ9M0qjV/fgA=" User-Agent: Gnus/5.11 (Gnus v5.11) Emacs/22.4 (gnu/linux) Cancel-Lock: sha1:/kTkMaBJT1kP9DuyiHvaCcfzHY8= sha1:IiPNuPzKKsIzM0hEtSZ88PphjDQ= Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.c:168715 Ben Bacarisse writes: > Richard Damon writes: > >> On 1/2/23 10:22 AM, Stefan Ram wrote: >> >>> Albert writes: >>> >>>> Subject: Compute Unique Numbers in a Set >>> >>> In a set, every number is unique. It seems likely that OP was speaking informally. Probably he meant some sort of generic collection rather than specifically a mathematical set. >> Assuming you are using the right Technical definition of Set. > > I suspect there's a language problem here. Without thinking much about > it assumed the result was to be a set (as you know) but I now think the > OP probably meant "compute (i.e choose) unique numbers /from/ a set". > The term "in a set" makes no literal sense and, as noted, clashes with > unique. But someone might write "in a set" by analogy with mathematical > phrases like, "compute the roots in R". The original posting said Is this the best way to generate unique random numbers in a set of 6 numbers? which reinforces my view that OP meant something like collection rather than something having to do with set as the term is used in mathematics. I confess I paid more attention to the code than to how the question was asked. As a result of that, the comments I gave assumed that the ordering of the six numbers was relevant. However, looking back on it now, if I had to bet my bet would be that OP doesn't care about the order, but just wants six unique numbers (chosen from the relevant range).