Lab02 - Page 1 of 8 Howard Leung / CS1102 Introduction to Computer Studies / 2024-2025 Semester A

Lab 02 Generating Random Numbers

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What you should do
• You should follow the instructions step by step especially if this is your first programming course.
• You should try to come up with the code yourself as much as possible. Do not be afraid of making mistakes,
since debugging (finding out where your code goes wrong and fixing it) is part of the learning process.
• We do not give out model programs to the exercises. There can be multiple ways to write the code that
solves the same problem. It is important that you build up the program logic yourself instead of merely
looking at some code that you do not understand. At any time if you are lost or if you have any questions,
feel free to ask the instructor, tutor, or teaching assistant and we will be very happy to help you.
Self-Discovery
• Most lab tasks are designed to be relatively simple such that you can take the time to think about the
related underlying concepts. Besides, we also encourage you to discover things on your own which may not
be specified in the tasks.

Task 1.1 Basics of Random Numbers

A computer program is often required to generate random numbers such as giving players a random set of
cards in a game or simulating mathematical models for scientific experiments. Can you come up with some
real-life examples of generating randomness such that the outcome is provided in random from a list of
possible choices and no computer is used?

Note that the random numbers generated by computer are often not true random numbers but are called
pseudo-random numbers instead. True random numbers are non-deterministic, meaning that there is no
way for you to determine what number comes next even if you have the entire history of all the numbers
generated in the past. On the other hand, pseudo-random numbers are generated by computer algorithms
such that it is like showing numbers successively from a given list that repeats itself (thus you can determine
the pattern if you wait long enough). Although the list may be very long for you to notice the pattern
practically, it is still possible to determine the numbers that will show up if you know the algorithm thus
pseudo-random numbers are deterministic.

Start the Chrome browser on your notebook and go to the webpage https://scratch.mit.edu/ and sign in
with the username and password of your account that you created in Lab 01.

In Scratch, a random number is generated by the following block:

If you click the above block, then you will see that a random integer in the range of 1 to 10 (including both 1
and 10) is generated each time.

Task 1.2 Let Computer Throw Dice

In this task you will make a Scratch program to simulate dice throwing, i.e., it will generate a discrete
random integer number from 1 to 6 when you click on the picture of dice. Download the sprite file
question-dice.sprite2 from the Canvas course page which contains such picture to the notebook.
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In Scratch, create a new project and put down Lab 2 Task 1.2 as the project name. Upload the sprite file
question-dice.sprite2 from the notebook to this new project by clicking on the button on the
bottom right as shown in the following screenshot (hover the mouse over the blue cat icon to expand the
options and choose the upload icon on top):

For this task we do not need the Scratch Cat so we can hide it. One way to hide a sprite is to click on that
sprite and then click on the “hide” block from the Looks block category:

Now we want the program to display a number ranging from 1 to 6. For this, we create a variable to store
this number. Click on the “Make a Variable” block from the Variables block category and put down dice as
the variable name:
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Now you should see the variable displayed on the Stage.

You can change the look of the variable. Now right click on the variable dice and choose large readout.
Alternatively, you can also double click on it to change its look until you get the look you like.

Drag this variable dice and move it next to the sprite.

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Now we want to add the code to display a random number from 1 to 6 when the dice sprite is clicked.
To do:
1) Click the question-dice sprite to make sure that this sprite is active (instead of the Scratch cat)

2) Add the block from the Events block category

3) Add the block from the Variables block category

4) Add the block inside the white square initially contains the value 0 from the
previous block. Note that you need to change the numbers so that it is from 1 to 6 (instead of from 1
to 10).

5) To create the visual effect of the dice throwing, add the blocks 3 times before the
setting the value of the variable from the previous step.

After the above steps, your project should look as follows:

Now you can try your code by clicking on the dice sprite and see a new random number displayed after the
dice movement.
Lab02 - Page 5 of 8 Howard Leung / CS1102 Introduction to Computer Studies / 2024-2025 Semester A

Task 1.3 Random Floating-Point Numbers

In Task 1.2, your code generates random integer numbers. In this task, we would like the code to generate
random floating-point numbers, e.g., 0.1, 0.234, 0.987654321, etc.
Consider the scenario in which 2 kids would like to get to the last piece of French fry which measures 1 inch
long. Each kid is holding on one end of the fry and would eventually break the fry in a random position. Can
you modify the code from Task 1.2 to simulate the random length of the fry segment obtained by one of the
kids?

First we should determine the range of the random number to be generated. The original fry measures 1
inch so the kid may obtain at most 1 inch (the entire fry) if he is lucky. Alternatively, he may obtain 0 inch
(nothing) if he is really unlucky. So the range of the random number is from 0 to 1. Besides, he may just get a
fraction of the fry so he may get something like 0.5 inch (half), 0.25 inch (25%), 0.1234567 inch, etc. As a
result, in the code, you need to generate a random continuous floating-point number (a number with
decimal places) that ranges from 0 to 1. Note that if you represent all floating-point numbers on a number
line, these numbers change continuously and given a certain number, it is not possible for you to tell what is
the next number (as opposed to the case with integers where you can tell what is the next number).

If you change the numbers in the block from “1 to 6” to “0 to 1”, would it be able to
generate the required random floating-point number? If you change these parameters to “0.0 to 1”, would it
be able to generate the required floating-point number? Note that as long as you put down a floating-point
number in any of the 2 input parameters, a random floating-point number will be generated, with the range
bounded by the 2 input numbers (inclusive). For example, while the block gives you
possible value of 1, 2 or 3, any of these blocks , or
would give you a floating-point random number x where 1≤x≤3.

Task 1.4 Random Sprite Position

In Lab 1, you have used the following block to move the Cat and the Mouse sprites to a random position:

The x coordinate of the stage area ranges from -240 (left) to 240 (right) and the y coordinate ranges from -
180 (bottom) to 180 (top). The center of the stage has the coordinates (0,0). The coordinate system of the
stage area is illustrated below:
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y
180

x
-240 240
0

-180

As a result, the above block would be equivalent to the following block for setting the sprite in a random
position when the program starts:

Complete the following tasks after finishing Task 1 in class or after class.

Task 2.1
1) What are the possible values of x as a result of the following block?

2) How do you modify from the above block such that x∈{-1, 1}, i.e., the value of x is either -1 or 1?

3) How can you generate a random integer x∈{0, 1, 2} but instead of equal probabilities, the
probabilities of getting 0,1,2 are 0.25,0.5,0.25 respectively?

4) What are the possible values of y as a result of the following block?

5) How do you modify from the above block such that y∈{1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0}?
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6) What are the possible values of p as a result of the following block?

7) Does p from the above block have the same set of possible outcomes as q from the following block?
If not, what are the differences?

Task 2.2

1) Generate a random floating-point number x such that -3≤x≤-1 or 1≤x≤3, i.e., x∈[-3,-1] ∪ [1,3]
Hint: refer to Task 2.1 step 2)

2) Generate a random floating-point number x such that 0≤x≤2 or 4≤x≤6, i.e., x∈[0,2] ∪ [4,6]
Hint: refer to 1)

Task 2.3
Write a program so that it satisfies the following specifications when the program starts:

1) All the pen marks on the stage are cleared

2) A square of size 200 centered at (0,0) is drawn using blocks from the Pen category

3) The Cat moves to a random position with its center inside the drawn square. Note that when the
center of the Cat is inside the square, part of the Cat may still fall outside it.
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Task 3 Complete the Post-Lab Questions

You should complete the “Post-Lab 02 Questions” on the Canvas course page.

Task 4 Further Discussions

If you have any questions related to this lab, you should first ask the lab tutor or the TA during your lab
session immediately. If you still have questions after the lab session, then you can first check whether your
question has already been posted by another student on the Canvas course page, under this Discussion page.
If not, then you can post a new question there.

On the other hand, you should also reflect on what you have learnt in this lab. Then you can try to come up
with problems to challenge your classmates. You can post your problem on the Discussion page with link
shown above. One should be able to solve your problem by using what he/she learns in this lab. You will not
get extra marks by posting a challenging problem or solving a challenging problem posted by another
student, but you will earn your fame so that you can impress the course leader, the lab tutors, and your
classmates.