Random number from 1 to 10
Ten options, honest randomness. The button gives a number straight away; the range and count can be changed.
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Why people cannot pick at random
Ask ten people for a number from one to ten and seven will come up several times, while one and ten barely appear. We do not pick randomly, we pick what feels random: the edges seem too obvious, even numbers not interesting enough, and seven feels the most “random” of all.
The same bias shows up in passwords, PIN codes and anywhere a person invents something “at random”. That is why lots are drawn with a coin rather than by thinking hard.
Where this range helps
Pick one of ten participants, set the order in a small group, assign a random topic from a list, settle an argument without a coin. Ten is the smallest convenient scale that does not feel too narrow.
If you need another size, change the upper bound right here: this page simply opens with the settings prepared.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Why not just think of a number?
Because people make poor generators. Asked to pick a number from 1 to 10, respondents choose seven about three times more often than chance would suggest, while one and ten come up noticeably less: the edges feel “not random enough”. If a bet or a prize depends on it, a number thought up in your head is predictable.
How random is the result here?
Numbers come from crypto.getRandomValues and are mapped onto the range by rejection: values in the incomplete tail are discarded. Without that step the lower numbers would appear more often.
How do I get several different numbers?
Raise the count and tick “no repeats” to get a sample rather than a set with duplicates.
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