On Wed, 18 Feb 1998 19:42:19 +1100 David Duffy writes: >But I can't >see a way to generate the list of all 20 numbers in random order. If the number of list elements is rather small (<100) try this (for 20): Define 20 one-bit flags. Start with them all clear. Each time you want the next element in the list, count how many flags are clear. If it's 0, the whole list is done. If it's 1, then only that number remains. Otherwise, generate a random number from 1 to the number of clear flags. One way to generate random numbers over an arbitrary range is to divide a large random number by the range and use the remainder (this isn't quite uniformly random, but if the "large" number is large enough, it's very close). Issue the number that corresponds to that flag location (search up through the flags for the n'th clear one) and set the flag so that number won't be issued again. This process has a very definite, once-through method to it, so it shouldn't get stuck (for a random time) like one based on searching and retrying could. _____________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]