Random numbers

If you mean that you have to actually describe a method to generate 5000 random numbers in pseudo-code as opposed to assuming the existence of a built-in Random function, then you might as well pick an easy one :)

One of the easiest is the Linear Congruential Generator (or LCG) where the random numbers form a sequence given by the equation:

   x[n+1] = (a * x[n] + c) mod m

and where a,c and m are unsigned integer constants with a and c both less than m.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_congruential_generator.

The choice of the constants is very important here and, in the following C# implementation (producing 20 random numbers) I've used a combination known as MINSTD (see http://roguebasin.roguelikedevelopment.org/index.php/Random_number_generator).

I've seeded the sequence using Environment.TickCount to try and ensure a different set of numbers is generated each time the program is run and scaled the random numbers so that they're in the range 0 to 4999 (may not be necessary).

using System;

class LCG
{
    static uint m, a, c;
    static ulong prev; 
   
    static void Main()
    {
       uint seed = (uint)Environment.TickCount;
       Initialize(2147483647, 16807, 0, seed);
       for (int i = 0; i < 20; i++)
       { 
          Console.WriteLine(GetNext());
       }          
       Console.ReadKey();
    }

    static void Initialize(uint m, uint a, uint c, uint seed)
    {
       LCG.m = m;
       LCG.a = a;
       LCG.c = c;
       LCG.prev = seed;  
    }

    static uint GetNext()
    {
       prev = (a * prev + c) % m;
       return (uint)prev % 5000;
    }
}

I'm not much good at pseudo-code as you know but here's my attempt:

DEFINE 4 unsigned integer variables: m, a, c and seed
DEFINE 1 unsigned long integer variable : prev
DEFINE an array of 5000 unsigned integers : numbers 


LET m be 2147483647
LET a be 16087
LET c be zero
LET seed be the number of ticks since the machine was turned on
LET prev be equal to seed

FOR i = 1 TO 5000

   CALL GetNext and assign it to array[i]

NEXT i

FUNCTION GetNext() AS unsigned integer

  LET prev = (a * prev + c) MODULO m
  RETURN prev MODULO 5000 AS unsigned integer

END FUNCTION