[SOLVED] Why's "math.random() > 0.01" not working?

[. . .]

Hello, I need help .

So, this's the code I need help with.

elseif food and food.components.edible and food.components.edible.foodtype == "MEAT" and not inst.components.sanity:IsSane() and math.random() > 0.99 then
inst.components.hunger:DoDelta(2)
inst.components.health:DoDelta(2)
inst.components.sanity:DoDelta(2)
elseif food and food.components.edible and food.components.edible.foodtype == "MEAT" and not inst.components.sanity:IsSane() and math.random() > 0.01 then
inst.sg:GoToState("hit")
inst.components.hunger:DoDelta(2)
inst.components.health:DoDelta(-8)
inst.components.sanity:DoDelta(-2)
inst.components.talker:Say("GrYyAh, OuR tOnGuE gOt HuRtEd!!!")

So, the code on top's supposed to have a 99% chance of happening while the one on the bottom's supposed to have a 1% chance of happening, but when I go in the game it's almost like the code on the bottom's the one with 99% chance of happening?!

Can someone please explain to me how "math.random() > 0.00" works?

Edited August 26, 2016 by SuperDavid

[DarkXero]

Currently your first if has a 0.01 chance of happening.

And if it doesn't happen, then you have a 0.99 chance of the second if happening.

So you end up having a 0.99 * 0.01 = 0.0099 chance of nothing happening (entering no if).

So two things here.

First thing:

math.random() returns a number between 0 and 1.

If you call math.random() multiple times, you are going to obtain different numbers every time.

It's like having 0.5 > 0.99 on the first if, and 0.2 > 0.01 in the second if.

You want to roll a die once, then act upon that result.

local chance = math.random()

if chance < 0.25 then
	-- Do this
	-- chance is 25%
else
	-- Do that
	-- chance is 75%
end

if chance < 0.25 then
	-- Do this
	-- chance is 25%
elseif chance >= 0.25 and chance < 0.50 then
	-- Do that
	-- chance is 25%
else
	-- Do whatever
	-- chance is 50%
end

Second thing:

The function returns a number between 0 and 1.

The function has a uniform distribution (this means the probability to get any of the numbers is the same).

math.random() > 0.99 has a 0.01 chance, of happening. Since you can get 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.314, 0.56789, and all of those are lower than 0.99.

math.random() > 0.01 is highly likely, since you need a 0 or a number very close to 0, and 0.1, 0.2, 0.314, 0.56789 are all higher than 0.01.