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	<title>Comments on: Random Sorts</title>
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	<link>http://www.dailydoseofexcel.com/archives/2008/03/23/random-sorts/</link>
	<description>Daily posts of Excel tips…and other stuff</description>
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		<title>By: Jake</title>
		<link>http://www.dailydoseofexcel.com/archives/2008/03/23/random-sorts/#comment-53102</link>
		<dc:creator>Jake</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 25 Oct 2010 00:57:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dailydoseofexcel.com/?p=1819#comment-53102</guid>
		<description>&lt;p&gt;I&#039;m using a version of this to run a weighted draft of pick order in our ultimate frisbee league based on level of donation.  Thanks so much for the code.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I&#8217;m using a version of this to run a weighted draft of pick order in our ultimate frisbee league based on level of donation.  Thanks so much for the code.</p>
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		<title>By: David Spencer</title>
		<link>http://www.dailydoseofexcel.com/archives/2008/03/23/random-sorts/#comment-34277</link>
		<dc:creator>David Spencer</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:03:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dailydoseofexcel.com/?p=1819#comment-34277</guid>
		<description>&lt;p&gt;Dick...I have a question.  I have read through the script (I am a novice, by the way) but I can&#039;t understand how Best Draw is calculated and if the drawing is truly random based on weighting.  &lt;a href=&quot;mailto:david.spencer@securit.com&quot;&gt;david.spencer@securit.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Dick&#8230;I have a question.  I have read through the script (I am a novice, by the way) but I can&#8217;t understand how Best Draw is calculated and if the drawing is truly random based on weighting.  <a href="mailto:david.spencer@securit.com">david.spencer@securit.com</a></p>
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	<item>
		<title>By: David Spencer</title>
		<link>http://www.dailydoseofexcel.com/archives/2008/03/23/random-sorts/#comment-34148</link>
		<dc:creator>David Spencer</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 11 Aug 2008 20:11:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dailydoseofexcel.com/?p=1819#comment-34148</guid>
		<description>&lt;p&gt;I downloaded and used your lottery.xls...works fantastic!  Thanks!&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I downloaded and used your lottery.xls&#8230;works fantastic!  Thanks!</p>
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		<title>By: Jon Peltier</title>
		<link>http://www.dailydoseofexcel.com/archives/2008/03/23/random-sorts/#comment-31477</link>
		<dc:creator>Jon Peltier</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:51:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dailydoseofexcel.com/?p=1819#comment-31477</guid>
		<description>&lt;p&gt;Charles - The issue may be that you still spend 95% of your time in 2003. I rarely go into 2007 other than to answer a question on a forum, or to test if something I&#039;m doing also works in 2007 for future reference.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Charles &#8211; The issue may be that you still spend 95% of your time in 2003. I rarely go into 2007 other than to answer a question on a forum, or to test if something I&#8217;m doing also works in 2007 for future reference.</p>
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		<title>By: Charles Chickering</title>
		<link>http://www.dailydoseofexcel.com/archives/2008/03/23/random-sorts/#comment-31470</link>
		<dc:creator>Charles Chickering</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 25 Mar 2008 16:58:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dailydoseofexcel.com/?p=1819#comment-31470</guid>
		<description>&lt;p&gt;Hey guys, I found out that I can install 2007 at work if I want. Are there any significant issues if I have both 2003 and 2007 installed?&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hey guys, I found out that I can install 2007 at work if I want. Are there any significant issues if I have both 2003 and 2007 installed?</p>
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		<title>By: Jazzer</title>
		<link>http://www.dailydoseofexcel.com/archives/2008/03/23/random-sorts/#comment-31463</link>
		<dc:creator>Jazzer</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 25 Mar 2008 13:33:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dailydoseofexcel.com/?p=1819#comment-31463</guid>
		<description>&lt;p&gt;Hi,&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;  I tried to construct a formula, that would return some kind of weighted random number, so that you can use just one formula to get the results. The process went something like this:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If you pick just one random number (RAND()), there is a 50% change that the number is greater (or equal) than 0.5.&lt;br&gt;
If you pick two random numbers, there is a 50% change that the maximum of those numbers &gt;= 0.66666.&lt;br&gt;
If you pick three random numbers, there is a 50% change that the maximum of those numbers &gt;= 0.75.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;  Some kind of pattern is forming... &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If you pick n random numbers, there is a 50% change that the maximum of those numbers is &gt;= 1-1/(n+1)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;  Then I changed the perspective. Let&#039;s say that a student has 8 completed assignments. I pick a random number, RAND(). If RAND() = 0.5, student should get a weighted value of 1-1/(8+1)=0.88888, but if the RAND() = 0, the weighted value should be 0 and if RAND()=1 =&gt; weighted value = 1.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;  So I should scale the result to return a kind of logarithmic value. More there are completed assignments, greater the change to get a better weighted value. So the final function to use is this:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;  =RAND()^LOG(1-1/(n+1),0.5)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;- Asser&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hi,</p>
<p>  I tried to construct a formula, that would return some kind of weighted random number, so that you can use just one formula to get the results. The process went something like this:</p>
<p>If you pick just one random number (RAND()), there is a 50% change that the number is greater (or equal) than 0.5.<br />
If you pick two random numbers, there is a 50% change that the maximum of those numbers &gt;= 0.66666.<br />
If you pick three random numbers, there is a 50% change that the maximum of those numbers &gt;= 0.75.</p>
<p>  Some kind of pattern is forming&#8230; </p>
<p>If you pick n random numbers, there is a 50% change that the maximum of those numbers is &gt;= 1-1/(n+1)</p>
<p>  Then I changed the perspective. Let&#8217;s say that a student has 8 completed assignments. I pick a random number, RAND(). If RAND() = 0.5, student should get a weighted value of 1-1/(8+1)=0.88888, but if the RAND() = 0, the weighted value should be 0 and if RAND()=1 =&gt; weighted value = 1.</p>
<p>  So I should scale the result to return a kind of logarithmic value. More there are completed assignments, greater the change to get a better weighted value. So the final function to use is this:</p>
<p>  =RAND()^LOG(1-1/(n+1),0.5)</p>
<p>- Asser</p>
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	<item>
		<title>By: Dick Kusleika</title>
		<link>http://www.dailydoseofexcel.com/archives/2008/03/23/random-sorts/#comment-31454</link>
		<dc:creator>Dick Kusleika</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 24 Mar 2008 22:59:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dailydoseofexcel.com/?p=1819#comment-31454</guid>
		<description>&lt;p&gt;Blayne - yeah, I like it.  You have to use regular old HTML in these comments.  I fixed it up for you.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Blayne &#8211; yeah, I like it.  You have to use regular old HTML in these comments.  I fixed it up for you.</p>
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	<item>
		<title>By: Blayne</title>
		<link>http://www.dailydoseofexcel.com/archives/2008/03/23/random-sorts/#comment-31451</link>
		<dc:creator>Blayne</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 24 Mar 2008 21:44:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dailydoseofexcel.com/?p=1819#comment-31451</guid>
		<description>&lt;p&gt;A visual (if it works)&lt;br&gt;
&lt;img src=&quot;http://i30.tinypic.com/wiohnc.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A visual (if it works)<br />
<img src="http://i30.tinypic.com/wiohnc.jpg"/></p>
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	<item>
		<title>By: Blayne</title>
		<link>http://www.dailydoseofexcel.com/archives/2008/03/23/random-sorts/#comment-31449</link>
		<dc:creator>Blayne</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 24 Mar 2008 21:36:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dailydoseofexcel.com/?p=1819#comment-31449</guid>
		<description>&lt;p&gt;For more excitement, you could add some conditional formatting to the cells so that &quot;first&quot; is blue, &quot;second&quot; red, etc.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>For more excitement, you could add some conditional formatting to the cells so that &#8220;first&#8221; is blue, &#8220;second&#8221; red, etc.</p>
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	<item>
		<title>By: fzz</title>
		<link>http://www.dailydoseofexcel.com/archives/2008/03/23/random-sorts/#comment-31438</link>
		<dc:creator>fzz</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 24 Mar 2008 06:41:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dailydoseofexcel.com/?p=1819#comment-31438</guid>
		<description>&lt;p&gt;I was a bit too fast with the formula for the 3rd column. If the 2nd column were B, then the 3rd column formula for row 5 should be&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;=MAX((B5&gt;0)*RAND(),(B5&gt;1)*RAND(),(B5&gt;2)*RAND(),&lt;br&gt;
(B5&gt;3)*RAND(),(B5&gt;4)*RAND(),(B5&gt;5)*RAND())&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I was a bit too fast with the formula for the 3rd column. If the 2nd column were B, then the 3rd column formula for row 5 should be</p>
<p>=MAX((B5&gt;0)*RAND(),(B5&gt;1)*RAND(),(B5&gt;2)*RAND(),<br />
(B5&gt;3)*RAND(),(B5&gt;4)*RAND(),(B5&gt;5)*RAND())</p>
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