Re: [Minor] Improvement on random functions doc

From: Matemática A3K <matematica(dot)a3k(at)gmail(dot)com>
To: "David G(dot) Johnston" <david(dot)g(dot)johnston(at)gmail(dot)com>
Cc: "pgsql-docs(at)lists(dot)postgresql(dot)org" <pgsql-docs(at)lists(dot)postgresql(dot)org>
Subject: Re: [Minor] Improvement on random functions doc
Date: 2026-10-20 18:54:10
Message-ID: CA+FDnhLq2Lk0hrt9yHPtTqZLo_d3ZSUVFjQaKh9R9DB8Z2zsmg@mail.gmail.com
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On Tue, Oct 20, 2026 at 2:10 PM David G. Johnston
<david(dot)g(dot)johnston(at)gmail(dot)com> wrote:
>
> On Tue, Oct 20, 2026 at 8:40 AM Matemática A3K <matematica(dot)a3k(at)gmail(dot)com> wrote:
>>
>> The probabilistic distribution used in random() and random(min, max)
>> is not stated (whereas in random_normal() is).
>
>
> The docs make the, IMO, reasonable assumption that "all values have an equal chance of appearing" is what people understand by a simple "random" selection procedure. Calling it uniform when the target audience may not usually be exposed to the terminology is not necessarily helpful here.

In my terms, this would be something like "Accuracy was traded in
order to better convey the idea to the audience". I find this to be
valid although I don't share it nor I think the documentation is built
upon it, but this is just my opinion, thanks for sharing yours.

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