Randomly selecting 2 integers not in a range? - c++

Question

I'm new to C++, and I've been searching all day to find a way to randomly select one of two distinct integers.
Everything I've found so far works only for integers within a range (1-10, etc) rather than for (1 or 3).
For ex. code I've been using elsewhere in the program (for a range of numbers) is
int c;
int Min = 1;
int Max = 3;
c = rand() % (Max + 1 - Min) + Min;
which returns a random integer within the range, rather than one or the other integers given.

Answer 1

First of all you shouldn't use C random in C++. Use C++ random.
The way to chose from a set of elements is to randomly generate an index. You can wrap the logic in a class:
#include <random>
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
#include <initializer_list>
class Random_choice
{
std::random_device rd_{};
public:
template <class T> auto get_choice(std::initializer_list<T> elements) -> T
{
std::uniform_int_distribution<std::size_t> dist{0, elements.size() - 1};
std::size_t i = dist(rd_);
return *(elements.begin() + i);
}
};
int main()
{
Random_choice rc;
std::cout << rc.get_choice({3, 5}) << std::endl;
}
Or without the abstraction:
#include <random>
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
int main()
{
std::vector<int> choices = {3, 5};
std::random_device rd;
std::mt19937 e{rd()};
std::uniform_int_distribution<std::size_t> dist{0, choices.size() - 1};
std::size_t i = dist(e);
std::cout << choices[i] << std::endl;
}

Answer 2

Randomly choosing one of two integers, a or b:
c = (rand() % 2) ? a : b
Randomly choosing an integer from a list of integers:
std::vector<int> numbers;
c = numbers.at(rand() % numbers.size());
Randomly choosing an integer from two intervals [a, b) and [c, d):
H = (b-a);
L = (b-a) + (d-c);
k = rand() % L;
c = (k < H) ? (a + k) : (c + (k - H));
In case you do C++11 then you may definitely have look into pseudo-random numer generation, like discrete_distribution and uniform_int_distribution.
Update. Removed the claim that we would choose uniformly from the given set. Since rand() chooses from [0, RAND_MAX], this is only true if the divisor of the above modulo operations divides (RAND_MAX+1). (Which is true for the first example in most implementations where RAND_MAX is 32767 or another power-of-two minus 1.) However, the defect from being uniform is roughly of the order of divisor/RAND_MAX. Nevertheless, C++11 uniform_int_distribution is recommended instead. Thanks, Baum mit Augen.

Answer 3

If you have a range of numbers that you don't want numbersin, then you have two ranges that you do want numbers in.
For example, if your range is 1 to 3 (inclusive) then the two ranges you do want numbers in are -∞ to 0, and 4 to ∞.
Infinity is a little tricky on computers, but can easily be emulated for example by std::numeric_limits to get the min and max for the wanted type.
So in your case you want a random number in the range std::numeric_limits<int>::min() to 0, and 4 to std::numeric_limits<int>::max().
Two get two random numbers from a random choice of either range, first pick (randomly) one range, and get a number from that. Then again (randomly) pick a range and get the second number from that.