using a random number as a parameter to generate a random number

Question

Im not sure of this is an acceptable post, but out of curiosity would

Random rnd = new Random();
        int random1 = rnd.Next(1, 24);
        int random2 = rnd.Next(25, 49);

        int random3 = rnd.Next(random1, random2);

        int random4 = rnd.Next(50, 74);
        int random5 = rnd.Next(75, 100);

        int random6 = rnd.Next(random4, random5);

        int random7 = rnd.Next(random3, random6);
        Console.WriteLine(random7);

be more of a random number than just say

Random rnd = new Random();
int random1 = rnd.Next(1, 100);
Console.WriteLine(random1);

Answer 1

The first approach produces something more like a curved distribution rather than a linear distribution.

Try running the following command-line app and you'll see the difference:

using System;

namespace Demo
{
    class Program
    {
        const int N = 1000000;

        static void Main()
        {
            var result1 = testRandom(randomA);
            var result2 = testRandom(randomB);

            Console.WriteLine("Results for randomA():\n");
            printResults(result1);

            Console.WriteLine("\nResults for randomB():\n");
            printResults(result2);
        }

        static void printResults(int[] results)
        {
            for (int i = 0; i < results.Length; ++i)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(i + ": " + new string('*', (int)(results[i]*2000L/N)));
            }
        }

        static int[] testRandom(Func<Random, int> gen)
        {
            Random rng = new Random(12345);

            int[] result = new int[100];

            for (int i = 0; i < N; ++i)
                ++result[gen(rng)];

            return result;
        }

        static int randomA(Random rng)
        {
            return rng.Next(1, 100);
        }

        static int randomB(Random rnd)
        {
            int random1 = rnd.Next(1, 24);
            int random2 = rnd.Next(25, 49);

            int random3 = rnd.Next(random1, random2);

            int random4 = rnd.Next(50, 74);
            int random5 = rnd.Next(75, 100);

            int random6 = rnd.Next(random4, random5);

            return rnd.Next(random3, random6);
        }
    }
}