Thread: Random Number Generator Stuck on 1 Number?

Hi, I am working with C++ in Visual Studio. It's my first semester doing anything like this ever. Still, I am embarrassed that I am having trouble with this simple "coin flipping" program. The user tells the program how many times to "flip the coin" & then the program tells the user the results of each flip. You'll see I am randomly generating a 1 or a 2 within the function coinFlip to represent heads or tails. However, the problem is that if the user wants more than one coin flip, the "random" number stays the same for all of them, resulting in all heads or all tails. I am thinking this is an issue with the for loop that I have within the function coinFlip, but I cannot figure out what might be going wrong.
Please help! Thanks! (Code below)

Code:

#include <iostream>
#include <iomanip>
#include <cstdlib>
#include <ctime>
using namespace std;

int coinFlip(int);

int main()
{
    int times;
    //ask the user how many times to flip the coin
    cout << "I can flip a coin as many times as you want.\nHow many times should I flip it?\nType the number and press Enter.\n\n";
    cin >> times;

    //explain what just happened
    cout << "\n\nI just flipped a virtual coin " << coinFlip(times) << " times.\n";

    return 0;
}

//flip the coin
int coinFlip(int numTimes)
{
    //count the number down
    for (int count = numTimes; count > 0; count--)
    {
        unsigned seed = time(0);
    
        double coin;
        srand(seed);

        coin = 1 + rand() % 2;

        //display heads if it's 1
        if (coin == 1)
            cout << "\nheads";

        //display tails if it's 2
        else if (coin == 2)
            cout << "\ntails";

        //just in case
        else
            cout << "\nERROR";
    }

    return numTimes;
}

Here is one random number generator with many possibilities, it works great and can be used in your code to get what you want try it :

Code:

#include<iostream>
#include<cstdlib>
#include<ctime>
using namespace std;
int main(){
	srand(time(NULL));						//random numbers that start with current system time
	rand();									//this line neglects first random number couse its always same
	float coin;
	for(int x=1;x<22;x+=1){
	coin=static_cast<float>(rand())/RAND_MAX;  //converting rand() into float type for decimal numbers
	coin*=50;                                //range of random numbers (this case 0-50)
	coin=static_cast<int>(y);				 //converting "coin" into int type of numbers
	cout<<coin<<endl;
}
}

Hint: when you set to generate 2 random numbers they will be 0 and 1 not 1 and 2.

Code:

rand();                                 //this line neglects first random number couse its always same

I ... really? Of course the first random number is not "always the same" (assuming you wait long enough for time() to give a different value).

And we've (probably) got #include<random> these days which will give you just about anything you want (including 0-50 or, for the OP, a bernoulli trial).