averaging the results of 2 random floats yields what appears to be a parabolic distribution

I believe you are probably seeing a side effect of the pseudo-random sequence algorithm. If you add two (independent) uniform random distributions, you get a 'tent' distribution with straight sides. The results of adjacent calls to rand() are not as independent as one might hope.

Simulating the situation with increasingly fine buckets by using "dice" doesn't change the shape of the graph.

- tye        


In reply to Re^3: Fractional dice (buckets) by tye
in thread Fractional dice by Roy Johnson

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