On Fri, Mar 27, 1998 11:57 AM, Jonathan Barrett
<mailto:mizzrym@HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:
> While I was making a function to tell you how many die with how many
> sides are needed to get an average of X and a range of x, I began to
> wonder about the die system in general. Why does circle use the die
> system at all? Wouldn't it be easier to just pick a random number
> between x and X?
There's a reason for <dice>d<size>+<add> instead of <min> to <max>. In a
direct random number roll, the results are distributed evenly. (In a
perfectly random sample, each number between <min> and <max> will have an
equal chance of being selected.) With dice, on the other hand, the
standard deviation (measure of distribution) can be controlled. If you
roll 2d8, numbers in the center of the range are going to show up more than
if you rolled 1d16, and less than if you rolled 4d4. In other words, more
dice = more average numbers.
Judson Powers Morgaelin MUD
powers@rjsonline.net telnet://mud.dwango.com:3000/
"Friends help you move... real friends help you move bodies."
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