On Mon, May 19, 2008 at 7:24 AM, Jerry Schwartz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I might not understand what this is doing, but I think it will preferentially > sample the ids that are at the end of a gap.
What don't you understand about the query or the way I described it? > You say you want a "flat" distribution; by that I think you mean that the > probability of selecting any given record is the same. If you have gaps in > your data, I can't think of any way to do that other than be assigning a > unique and sequential ID to each record. If you ever delete a record, you'd > have to renumber the remaining ones. Then you'd pick off a random value for > this unique ID. There are alternatives. (generating a random number for each row for example, take a look at the original conversation). Having to keep the sequence holeless would be a pain in the back side, but could be done with a trigger running something like I describe in the thread -> http://lists.mysql.com/mysql/212838 . -- Rob Wultsch [EMAIL PROTECTED] wultsch (aim) -- MySQL General Mailing List For list archives: http://lists.mysql.com/mysql To unsubscribe: http://lists.mysql.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]
