Generating uniform random numbers

Many data science tasks involve running simulations. One important step in a simulation is the generation of random numbers. There are two functions available for generating numbers from a uniform distribution. In a continuous uniform distribution, any number within a range is likely to be generated. In a discrete uniform distribution, any one of a finite number of values is equally likely to be generated.

• RAND() generates a random number between 0 and 1 from a continuous uniform distribution. It takes no arguments.
• RANDBETWEEN() lets you specify the lower and upper bounds, and generates a random integer (no fractional part); that is, it samples from a discrete uniform distribution.