[jtka]

Hello all, I know this has probably been asked several times before but I was wondering if I could get help.
I have narrowed the problem down to my method and I realize it is not truly random but this is the method we were told to use as we have just started programming a little while ago.

Any help is appreciated!
Method first:

	import java.util.Scanner;
import java.util.Random;
public class Methods

                public static int Flip ( int toss ) //coin flip method
	{
		Random randomNumbers = new Random();
		
		toss = 1 + randomNumbers.nextInt(2);
		
		return toss;
	}

Program Code:

import java.util.Scanner;
public class CoinTossing
{
	public static void main(String[]args)
{
	Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in);
	
	//variables
	int selection;
	int flip;
	int heads = 0;
	int tails = 0;
	
	//menu
	System.out.print("Press 1 for a coin flip\nPress anything else to exit\n");
	selection = input.nextInt();
	
	while (selection == 1) //loop
	{
		
	//Method import
	flip = Methods.Flip( selection ); //begins flip
	
	if (flip == 1) //returns heads
		System.out.println("you have returned a heads");
		heads++;
	if (flip != 1) //returns tails
		System.out.println("you have returned a tails");
		tails++;
	System.out.print("Press 1 for a coin flip\nPress anything else to exit\n");
	selection = input.nextInt();
	}
	//Results
	System.out.printf("You flipped %d for heads, and %d for tails", heads, tails);
}
}

It should be noted that the problem I experienced has been narrowed to the method as I don't receive any problems with the actual code, but if you feel something else should be changed I would be open to it, after all I'm still learning.

Cheers!

[jon.kiparsky]

What's the problem you're trying to solve here?

[pbl]

Why + 1

toss = 1 + randomNumbers.nextInt(2);

will generate 1 or 2
and do not create a new Random object each time

class Flip {
    Random ran;
    private static final String[] face = {"Head", "Tail"};

    Flip() {  // constructor
      ran = new Random();
    }

    String next() {
      return face[ran.nextInt(2)];
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
       Flip flip = new Flip();
       ....
       System.out.println(flip.next());

[g00se]

Or

public static String flip() {
   return Math.random() > 0.5 "Heads" : "Tails";
}

[CasiOo]

If I were to solve the problem, the first method I would have spotted when looking through the Random class would have been nextBoolean()

[jtka]

In particular the idea was that I would assign a number to a coin flip (1 for heads and 2 for tails) using a random number generator. Would that be appropriate as there would then be a 50/50 chance that the number would appear?

Thanks for the quick responses.

[g00se]

Quote

In particular the idea was that I would assign a number to a coin flip (1 for heads and 2 for tails) using a random number generator. Would that be appropriate as there would then be a 50/50 chance that the number would appear?

It would be, but in order to do that, it would require too much code probably. The last code i posted does what you need in probably the most efficient and shortest amount of code.

[rfs02]

Your problem is actually with your if statements:

if (flip != 1) //returns tails
		System.out.println("you have returned a tails");
		tails++;

You don't have braces around both statements.

What Java is doing is actually printing the line only if flip != 1, but it's increasing tails regardless.

[jtka]

Thanks so much for the help, tomorrow I'll try modifying the if statement and if that doesn't work I'll change the code to math.random that goose suggested.

Much appreciated!