I need to create a multi dimensional array comprised of random numbers between 1 and 4. The reason why I need a mutidimensional array is because each number needs to be associated with a random letter of F or N. [ F or N are really Indicators or whether I should show the user Feedback on their results in the case of F. Or not show them Feedback in the case of N.] So within this array 2 random numbers will be associated with random F's. And 2 will be associated with random N's. For example the array should look like (1,F 2,F 3,N 4,N) or (3,N 2,F 1,N 4,F). The reason why I need this random array is because during the course of my application being ran 4 times (which represents the numbers) I want to insure that every time N is done 2 times and F is done 2 times. This is all to make sure that each Number 1-4 after 100 times the application is ran has the same amount of F's and N's. I was also wondering if someone knows a way to store how many times the application has been ran in asp.net so that I can recreate another random string after 4 application runs. Thanks for any advice.

Then using a random number generator is *NOT* your answer. A truly random system will *TEND* to get the sane number of occurrences, per value, in 100 iterations. But because the values are truly random, it's very unlikely that you will get *exactly* the same counts. More likely, you'd see something like (94, 102, 97, 107) or similar for the distribution. That's what random *means*.

It *FEELS* to me like what you really want, insted, is a random *ORDERING* of the numbers from 1 to 4 and then a random *ORDERING* of the array (F,F,N,N) and you match up those two random orderings.

But even this won't *guarantee* that you will get the same number of (for example) 1N's as you do 1F's as you do 2N's as you do 2F's, etc. If *THAT* is what you need, then you should instead pre-generate all possible combinations and then simply pick *combinations* randomly.


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You can store the number of "runs" in a session variable (if the runs are done by one person) or an application variable (if the runs are done via multiple people with multiple browsers). Or, if the runs are done by one person/one browser, just store the run number as a hidden form field.