.\" @(#)rand.3 6.4 (Berkeley) 05/17/89 .\" .TH RAND 3C "" .AT 3 .SH NAME rand, srand \- random number generator .SH SYNOPSIS .nf .B srand(seed) .B int seed; .PP .B rand() .fi .SH DESCRIPTION .ft B These interfaces are obsoleted by random(3). .br They are available from the compatibility library, libcompat. .ft R .PP .I Rand uses a multiplicative congruential random number generator with period .if t 2\u\s732\s0\d .if n 2**32 to return successive pseudo-random numbers in the range from 0 to .if t 2\u\s731\s10\d\(mi1. .if n (2**31)\(mi1 .PP The generator is reinitialized by calling .I srand with 1 as argument. It can be set to a random starting point by calling .I srand with whatever you like as argument. .SH "SEE ALSO" random(3)