opensolaris man page for rand

rand(3UCB)					     SunOS/BSD Compatibility Library Functions						rand(3UCB)

NAME
       rand, srand - simple random number generator

SYNOPSIS
       /usr/ucb/cc [ flag ... ] file ...

       int rand();

       int srand(seed)
       unsigned seed;

DESCRIPTION
       rand()  uses a multiplicative congruential random number generator with period 2^32 to return successive pseudo-random numbers in the range
       from 0 to 2^31 -1.

       srand() can be called at any time to reset the random-number generator to a random starting point. The generator is initially seeded with a
       value of 1.

SEE ALSO
       cc(1B), drand48(3C), rand(3C), random(3C)

NOTES
       Use of these interfaces should be restricted to only applications written on BSD platforms.  Use of these interfaces with any of the system
       libraries or in multi-thread applications is unsupported.

       The spectral properties of rand() leave a great deal to be desired. drand48(3C) and random(3C) provide much better, though more	elaborate,
       random-number generators.

       The low bits of the numbers generated are not very random; use the middle bits. In particular the lowest bit alternates between 0 and 1.

SunOS 5.11							    30 Oct 2007 							rand(3UCB)