Easy way to roll a seven-sided die?

[Ben E Lou]

What's the easiest way to get a truly random integer result from 1 to 7?

[Solecismic]

There are many ways. Here's one that's guaranteed to be fair.

1) Pick a last name that's fairly familiar.

2) Open up your phone book.

3) Write down the 7-digit telephone number of the first instance of that last name.

4) Divide by 7.

5) Add 1 to the remainder. There's your random integer.

[Brillig]

1) Roll an eight sided die and reroll any 8's.

or

2) If you're a 'normal' person who only has six sided dice, roll one twice. If you rolled six both times, reroll, otherwise take the first roll, multiply by six, add the second roll. Then take the remainder after dividing by seven and add one.

[Airhog]

use the rand function in excel\

=rand()*7

Make sure you format the cell to round the number so you don't get a decimal

[sovereignstar]

What's the easiest way to get a truly random integer result from 1 to 7?

No such thing as a truly random integer. :)

[WSUCougar]

Random number generator link (http://www.random.org/nform.html)

[cartman]

There are many ways. Here's one that's guaranteed to be fair.

1) Pick a last name that's fairly familiar.

2) Open up your phone book.

3) Write down the 7-digit telephone number of the first instance of that last name.

4) Divide by 7.

5) Add 1 to the remainder. There's your random integer.

So that is why when I play TCY I see an outgoing connection to switchboard.com...

:D

[OldGiants]

What's the easiest way to get a truly random integer result from 1 to 7?
Buy some Premo/Sculpy and make your own seven-sided die:

http://jducoeur.org/game-hist/game-recon-astrotables.html

[MIJB#19]

use the rand function in excel\

=rand()*7

Make sure you format the cell to round the number so you don't get a decimal=round(rand()*7+0.5,0)
That's what I would use

[Easy Mac]

Just pick a number.

[MIJB#19]

The question still remainingis: what is the random number for?

I will put my money on wheter Mike Vick will start tomorrow, with 7 being the lucky number.

[sterlingice]

There are many ways. Here's one that's guaranteed to be fair.

1) Pick a last name that's fairly familiar.

2) Open up your phone book.

3) Write down the 7-digit telephone number of the first instance of that last name.

4) Divide by 7.

5) Add 1 to the remainder. There's your random integer.
Unfortunately, I'm guessing this has a bit of a bias in it. For instance, 555 as a prefix won't be anywhere. It's not a huge bias but it's a non-zero one.

SI

[Easy Mac]

Open up an FOFC thread with at least 30 posts, pick the 14th post, and whatever the first number of that person's post count is, use that number

[Solecismic]

Unfortunately, I'm guessing this has a bit of a bias in it. For instance, 555 as a prefix won't be anywhere. It's not a huge bias but it's a non-zero one.

SI

Yes. That's true. Far worse is the removal of certain popular suffixes (like 0000) from the residential database. Most of those tiny biases cancel each other out. And the biases are far less than the weight bias caused by the pips on a die.

Not sure about the "random" numbers you get on a computer, though seeding the random-number generator with the time function guarantees you a random start to the sequence (as long as you don't repeatedly use the same seed, of course). But you have built-in biases caused by the rounding, and you have to be very careful how you process the random number or you'll end up with an algorithm that generates only half the 7s you need, or worse.

I think this approach is optimal on a purely statistical basis. Though more tedious on a practical basis.

[Chas in Cinti]

Use the "Analysis Toolpak" for excel... there is a function like RandNum that you can use... the arguments are two integers that you wish the number to be between...

Breeze showed it to me...

Regards,
Chas

[QuikSand]

Ask your wife.

[JeffR]

Buy one (http://pen-paper.rpgshop.com/product_info.php?products_id=35373&), then roll it.

[panerd]

1.Pick your favorite football player.
2. Look up their date of birth.
3. Use a calendar program to find out what day of the week they were born on.
Sunday= 1
Monday = 2
etc.

[cuervo72]

Not sure about the "random" numbers you get on a computer, though seeding the random-number generator with the time function guarantees you a random start to the sequence (as long as you don't repeatedly use the same seed, of course). But you have built-in biases caused by the rounding, and you have to be very careful how you process the random number or you'll end up with an algorithm that generates only half the 7s you need, or worse.

Or you'll end up with an algorithm that produces inordinate numbers of kick returns for touchdowns. :D

[Fonzie]

If you wanna go old-school, write the numbers 1 through 7 on slips of paper, put 'em all in a hat, and draw one.