# How would I express this code in math notation?

I'm writing a paper on an application I wrote, and I'm trying to describe mathematically what I did to determine the rotation of an object. What I did is really simple, but my math lags far behind my computer science.

What it does is select a random number between min and max. 0 <= min, max < 1 If min > max, in which case it selects a random number between min and max and subtracts 1 if the number is greater than 1. (i.e. the number under (mod 1))

This is what I'm saying right now:

When determining an orientation, the orientation is selected from the valid orientations, then a random number x is selected such that

Where min is the minimum offset, max is the maximum offset, and 0≤min,max<1. The radian measure of the orientation would be 2πx, and the degree measure would be 360x°.

This is the code in question:

if (min > max)
{
double d = Utility.r.NextDouble() * (max + 1 - min) + min;
if (d >= 1)
d -= 1;
return d;
}
else
{
double d = Utility.r.NextDouble() * (max - min) + min;
return d;
}
-
If you are just trying to say that the function generates a random number in the interval $[0,1)$, then that is all you really need to say. However, if you really do need to describe the exact way you're implementing this then you might want to try optimizing/refactoring your code to attain a more elegant solution. The math would then follow more readily. –  pbs Aug 14 '12 at 16:48
@pbs Just thinking about math forced me to realize this could easily be done in a single line. I still have a very similar issue with expressing selecting a random number from a set, so I'll just follow Greg Martin's advice. –  Ryan Amos Aug 14 '12 at 17:29