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Generate a deterministic random number from any number

From a number x, I want a function to get a random number y, uniformly distributed. For same x, the function should return same y.

I tried:

float func(int x) {
  return new Random(x).nextFloat();
}

but apparently only the sequence of numbers provided by a seeded Random is uniformly distributed, not first values. Is this possible?

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Answer

First, note that both int and float are 32bit datatypes in Java. So what you’re asking for is essentially a good hash function. If you want your random function to be 1:1, then this becomes a psuedomrandom permutation. So pick your favorite hash function and then reinterpret the bits as a float (not a cast)

public float f(x) {
   // Pick your favorite hash function here
   int hash = (int)(x * 2654435761L) // Fibonacci hash
   return Float.intBitsToFloat(hash);
}

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