“RANDOM NUMBER GENERATOR IN C”

MINI PROJECT REPORT

DEPARTMENT OF

“COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING”

SEMESTER - IV

BHARATI VIDYAPEETH (DEEMED TO BE

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING,PUNE 2021-2022

“RANDOM NUMBER GENERATOR IN C”

Submitted By

Name – Anagha Tanaji Mulik

Roll No – 36

Under the Guidance of

Ms.Pranoti Kavindan

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND

ENGINEERING

BHARATI VIDYAPEETH (DEEMED TO BE

2021-2022
BHARATI VIDYAPEETH (DEEMED TO BE UNIVERSITY)
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

PUNE-411043

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the work under Mini Project for the topic “RANDOM
NUMBER GENERATOR IN C ” is carried out by Anagha Mulik from 2nd Year
Semester IV has been submitted to the Department of Computer Science
and Engineering of Bharati Vidyapeeth (Deemed to be University)
College of Engineering, Pune during the academic year 2021-22.

Date: Ms.Pranoti Kavindan

In order to generate the expected output, the program must need the proper input. Usually, the inputs are

provided by the user but sometimes the program has to pick the input by itself. For instance, to get the

current timestamp the application uses an inbuilt function to fetch it from the system. In the same way,

sometimes we need to have the application generate any random number which could be processed

further to get the supposed output. Though it looks random to the user the programming language offers

us the mechanism to define the range of the random number. In this article, we will see the program

implementation of random numbers generated using the C programming language. We will be focusing

on the inbuilt function that is provided by C in order to generate a random number.

THEORY-

What is Random Number Generator Functions in C?

There are several approaches to generate the random number using any of the programming
languages. One can define the function of their own way to estimate or generate the random
number while there are inbuilt functions in any of the programming language that generates the
random number. In the C programming language, we have a function called rand, which helps in
generating the random number. This function comes predefined in C and can be implemented in
the program using stdlib.h header file. The developer needs to mention the stdlib.h header file in
the beginning of the program in order to leverage the rand function. Every time this function is
called, it generates a totally random number. Based on the requirement one can generate the
number belongs to integer, float or double data type. It can be simply used in the program using
rand() function.

Though the rand function is supposed to generate the random value, it stuck to generate the same
value every time the program is executed and it may happen due to the constant seed value. If the
requirement is to have the new random number generated every time the program executes than
we have to make sure that the seed should change whenever the program runs. Time is
something that keeps on changing and can also be considered as something that can help in
getting a random seed value every time and to use time in the program we have to use time.h
header file.
Generation Integers

The rand() function is used to generate a random number. Every time it is called, it gives a
random number. If the developers add some logic with it, they can generate the random number
within a defined range and if the range is not defined explicitly, it will return a totally random
integer value. The rand() function in C could be used in order to generate the random number
and the generated number is totally deleting seed. A seed is a value that is used by rand function
to generate the random value. If the seed value is kept on changing, the number generated will
new every time the program is compiled else it will return the same value every time that was
generated when the program was executed first. In order to generate the Below is the program to
generate the integer random number.

PROGRAM CODE-

In this program, we have used time.h header file which is used to leverage the system time in generating
the random number. As the time changes every time, the value of seed will change every time the
program will be executed, helping us to generate a random number every time the program is executed.
Rand_num is the variable that is used to store a randomly generated number. The function rand()
generates a random number which is assigned to the variable rand_num. As we didn’t define the return
value of the random number explicitly, it will give us an integer number.

Generating Float Point Numbers

The approach to generating the random float value is similar to the approach for generating the
integer number. The only difference is, we will need to explicitly define that the value we are
expecting from the rand function should be a float. The float value usually consumes more space
in storage as compared to the short int. The program that we have written in the above for
random integer value generation will be the same as we are going to write here. The only
difference will be an explicit data type definition. Similar to the last program, we have used
time.h header file here as well to let it contribute in random float number generation. If this
header file is not included in the program, it will give the same value every time the program. Is
executed. Below is the program for random float value generation.

Program code -
expecting from the rand function should be a float. The float value usually consumes more space
in storage as compared to the short int. The program that we have written in the above for
random integer value generation will be the same as we are going to write here. The only
difference will be an explicit data type definition. Similar to the last program, we have used
time.h header file here as well to let it contribute in random float number generation. If this
header file is not included in the program, it will give the same value every time the program. Is
executed. Below is the program for random float value generation.

Conclusion

To enhance the randomness of the number, one can leverage mathematical expressions. Also,
using logic one can also define the range of numbers under which they want the number to be
generated randomly. The feature to generate random rubber is provided by all of the
programming languages and used in the actual application based on the requirement. In order to
ensure the strong randomness of the number, we have to make sure that the seed that rand
function is used to generate the random value should be very random and new every time the
program runs
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