The method posted here:
doesnt work anymore.
I want pretty much the same as I am trying to make a random workout generator.
Press F9 with result cell selected to recalculate and make another selection, or press Ctrl+Shift+F9 anywhere to recalculate
I just said the method above DOESN’T WORK.
No need to yell - you didn’t say why (no error message given) and I can’t see any reason why it should no longer work. The only thing which might not work for you is the use of , (comma) as an argument separator in function RANDBETWEEN() since the the guy answering the question seems to be from the US. Change it to the global default ; (semicolon) and it should work for you as well (=INDIRECT("A"&RANDBETWEEN(1;COUNTA(A1:A7)))).
The question lacks indispensable information:
We need to distinguish cases concerning:
-1- Are the entries of the “group” unique?
-2- Are the selected elements expected to be unique?
-3- What if “no” to -1-, but “yes” to -2-?
-4- Must the probabilities for any of the (unique?) entries to be selected be equal?
-5- Shall the results be sorted, or is the order irrelevant?
-6- Shall the resulty be ordered randomly?
This is not at all sophistical. If the questioner thinks it is, he (f/m) shouldn’t use spreadsheets - except the results are meaningless anyway.
Neither the question, nor the old answer it linked to, nor the comments so far make me believe there was enough expertise put in.
Concernig the old answer by @qubit1, the wrong separator is a minor issue. It mainly isn’t sufficiently informed or complete. It prefers the top elements without mentioning this.
It was wrongly accepted without adequate checks.
@embrance shouldn’t rely on it.
I just wanted randomness. Nothing more. But since you did mention it: How do I spcify if a value has to appera one or two times max?
Also I tried putting the values in a second sheet but then I cant generate anything.
What about information concerning my point-4-?
I cannot easily imagine a case where this is irrelevant. Do you feel sure to have a sufficient concept of “randomness” to work with it in spreadsheets?
We should probably not use a chainsaw without some instruction in advance.
I will attach an example document to my answer.
I just said the method above DOESN’T WORK.
edit: Thanks. Apparently is was the semicolon.
This doesn’t answer the question (your own).
Please do not use Add Answer but edit your original question to enhance the details of your question (answers are reserved for solutions to a problem on this Q&A site). Thanks in advance …
A rather thorough, but not perfect tutorial concerning the topic is: [Tutorial] Randomization in Calc (View topic) • Apache OpenOffice Community Forum.
===Edit 2020-10-29 about 17:39 UTC===
(Once more: The “old solution” is definitely insufficient.)
Assuming, it’s next to always indispensable to know about the probabilities with which items will occur in the sample, and that there mostly will be expected equal probability for all of them, I attach an example document where in the first sheet Floyd’s algorithm for the purpose is demonstrated.
If items should be allowed to occur more often than once in the sample, this can also be manage by it.
Please tell me if you find a flaw.
floydsAlgorithm.ods