Code Forums - View Single Post

coryw · 08-30-2005, 10:26 AM

Hi there,

Disclaimer: This is my 3rd day learning PHP, so the following is likely going to sound silly:

Problem: The book I am using to teach myself (PHP5/MySQL for the absolute beginner by Andy Harris) has "challenges" at the end of each chapter, and I am stuck on a simple one...

"Write a 'loaded dice' program that half the time generates the value 1 and half the time generates some other value"

The basic die rolling looks like this:

<?
$roll = rand(1,6);
print "You rolled a $roll";
?>

When the html page containing the code is refreshed, it regenerates with a new random roll number.

My first idea was to make if statements for half of the possible numbers rolled (1-3 or 4-6, for a 6 sided die etc.) and then just have PHP print "You rolled a one" - but that won't really be "half of the time" because, well, it's random...

Am I missing some really simple here? Or is there another function I could add in to help in delivering the "1" value 50% of the time?

TIA for any help.

08-30-2005, 10:26 AM	#1 (permalink)
coryw Registered User Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 5	help with rand function... Hi there, Disclaimer: This is my 3rd day learning PHP, so the following is likely going to sound silly: Problem: The book I am using to teach myself (PHP5/MySQL for the absolute beginner by Andy Harris) has "challenges" at the end of each chapter, and I am stuck on a simple one... "Write a 'loaded dice' program that half the time generates the value 1 and half the time generates some other value" The basic die rolling looks like this: <? $roll = rand(1,6); print "You rolled a $roll"; ?> When the html page containing the code is refreshed, it regenerates with a new random roll number. My first idea was to make if statements for half of the possible numbers rolled (1-3 or 4-6, for a 6 sided die etc.) and then just have PHP print "You rolled a one" - but that won't really be "half of the time" because, well, it's random... Am I missing some really simple here? Or is there another function I could add in to help in delivering the "1" value 50% of the time? TIA for any help.