[c++] generate random double numbers in c++

How to generate random numbers between two doubles in c++ , these numbers should look like xxxxx,yyyyy .

This solution requires C++11 (or TR1).

#include <random>

int main()
{
   double lower_bound = 0;
   double upper_bound = 10000;
   std::uniform_real_distribution<double> unif(lower_bound,upper_bound);
   std::default_random_engine re;
   double a_random_double = unif(re);

   return 0;
}

For more details see John D. Cook's "Random number generation using C++ TR1".

See also Stroustrup's "Random number generation".

something like this:

#include <iostream>
#include <time.h>

using namespace std;

int main()
{
    const long max_rand = 1000000L;
    double x1 = 12.33, x2 = 34.123, x;

    srandom(time(NULL));

    x = x1 + ( x2 - x1) * (random() % max_rand) / max_rand;

    cout << x1 << " <= " << x << " <= " << x2 << endl;

    return 0;
}

If accuracy is an issue here you can create random numbers with a finer graduation by randomizing the significant bits. Let's assume we want to have a double between 0.0 and 1000.0.

On MSVC (12 / Win32) RAND_MAX is 32767 for example.

If you use the common rand()/RAND_MAX scheme your gaps will be as large as

1.0 / 32767.0 * ( 1000.0 - 0.0) = 0.0305 ...

In case of IEE 754 double variables (53 significant bits) and 53 bit randomization the smallest possible randomization gap for the 0 to 1000 problem will be

2^-53 * (1000.0 - 0.0) = 1.110e-13

and therefore significantly lower.

The downside is that 4 rand() calls will be needed to obtain the randomized integral number (assuming a 15 bit RNG).

double random_range (double const range_min, double const range_max)
{
  static unsigned long long const mant_mask53(9007199254740991);
  static double const i_to_d53(1.0/9007199254740992.0);
  unsigned long long const r( (unsigned long long(rand()) | (unsigned long long(rand()) << 15) | (unsigned long long(rand()) << 30) | (unsigned long long(rand()) << 45)) & mant_mask53 );
  return range_min + i_to_d53*double(r)*(range_max-range_min);
}

If the number of bits for the mantissa or the RNG is unknown the respective values need to be obtained within the function.

#include <limits>
using namespace std;
double random_range_p (double const range_min, double const range_max)
{
  static unsigned long long const num_mant_bits(numeric_limits<double>::digits), ll_one(1), 
    mant_limit(ll_one << num_mant_bits);
  static double const i_to_d(1.0/double(mant_limit));
  static size_t num_rand_calls, rng_bits;
  if (num_rand_calls == 0 || rng_bits == 0)
  {
    size_t const rand_max(RAND_MAX), one(1);
    while (rand_max > (one << rng_bits))
    {
      ++rng_bits;
    }
    num_rand_calls = size_t(ceil(double(num_mant_bits)/double(rng_bits)));
  }
  unsigned long long r(0);
  for (size_t i=0; i<num_rand_calls; ++i)
  {
    r |= (unsigned long long(rand()) << (i*rng_bits));
  }
  r = r & (mant_limit-ll_one);
  return range_min + i_to_d*double(r)*(range_max-range_min);
}

Note: I don't know whether the number of bits for unsigned long long (64 bit) is greater than the number of double mantissa bits (53 bit for IEE 754) on all platforms or not. It would probably be "smart" to include a check like if (sizeof(unsigned long long)*8 > num_mant_bits) ... if this is not the case.

This should be performant, thread-safe and flexible enough for many uses:

#include <random>
#include <iostream>

template<typename Numeric, typename Generator = std::mt19937>
Numeric random(Numeric from, Numeric to)
{
    thread_local static Generator gen(std::random_device{}());

    using dist_type = typename std::conditional
    <
        std::is_integral<Numeric>::value
        , std::uniform_int_distribution<Numeric>
        , std::uniform_real_distribution<Numeric>
    >::type;

    thread_local static dist_type dist;

    return dist(gen, typename dist_type::param_type{from, to});
}

int main(int, char*[])
{
    for(auto i = 0U; i < 20; ++i)
        std::cout << random<double>(0.0, 0.3) << '\n';
}

This snippet is straight from Stroustrup's The C++ Programming Language (4th Edition), §40.7; it requires C++11:

#include <functional>
#include <random>

class Rand_double
{
public:
    Rand_double(double low, double high)
    :r(std::bind(std::uniform_real_distribution<>(low,high),std::default_random_engine())){}

    double operator()(){ return r(); }

private:
    std::function<double()> r;
};

#include <iostream>    
int main() {
    // create the random number generator:
    Rand_double rd{0,0.5};

    // print 10 random number between 0 and 0.5
    for (int i=0;i<10;++i){
        std::cout << rd() << ' ';
    }
    return 0;
}