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Ask HN: What's your favorite way to make random decisions?

1 pointsby MitPittalmost 3 years ago
Sometimes you have to make a choice at random. What&#x27;s your favorite way to generate random numbers for these decisions?<p>Coin toss? Three coin tosses? Throwing dice? Making bots fight each other in a videogame? Marble race? Asking a friend to say a random number? Plain RNG website? Magic 8 ball?<p>I also like my random decision makers to not be too quick. This gives the generator some sort of legitimacy, because the machine &quot;thought about it&quot;.

2 comments

vivegialmost 3 years ago
1. If the number of choices is small i.e., in the order of 10 to 20, write them in slips of paper and throw them in a bowl, mix them and pull one out.<p>2. If the number of choices is medium i.e., in the order of 100s, write them down in Excel and number them sequentially. Then use the RANDBETWEEN() function to select the choice.<p>3. If the number of choices is very large i.e., neither small nor medium, use a database table instead of Excel (mentioned in step 2) and implement the same logic (in dbquery + code).<p>4. If your choice does not necessarily have to be random, but achieve group consensus between a number of individuals (that fit in a conference room), use a technique like multi-voting [See: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;asq.org&#x2F;quality-resources&#x2F;multivoting" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;asq.org&#x2F;quality-resources&#x2F;multivoting</a>]
eimrinealmost 3 years ago
Ask a friend &quot;hey buddy, A or B? choose one&quot; Or just do what looks easier. If a random number from strict boundaries is needed, engineer calc or JS console can do it perfectly.