http://docs.hp.com/cgi-bin/doc3k/B3150090013.11820/148

I'm not a Cobol programmer. But usually these random functions are
similar.

You only need to seed the function once, to get a random sequence.
If you want to change the sequence, then you give it a new seed.

I suspect that if you provide the same seed value, the sequence
starts all over again, hence as you see, the same seed gives the
same number.

If you truly want to get a new sequence every minute or second,
then only pass a seed when the minute or second changes. Otherwise,
just call the function without a seed to get the next random number
in that sequence.

Keven

* To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, *
* etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *