Raymond Hettinger wrote:
Greg> Think about it: A shuffling algorithm is a function from a random Greg> number to a permutation. There's no way you can get more permutations Greg> out than there are random numbers to put in.
If our random number generator can produce more possible shuffles than there are atoms in the universe, I say you don't worry about it.
The "long int too large to convert to float" error that I got on my first attempt at printing 2080! in scientific notation is also something of a hint :) The decimal module came to my rescue though:
+Decimal(math.factorial(2080)) Decimal('1.983139957541900373849131897E+6000')
That's one heck of a big number! Cheers, Nick. -- Nick Coghlan | ncoghlan@gmail.com | Brisbane, Australia ---------------------------------------------------------------