help on a listing algorithm

[n3p3]

Hello,

 

In a web project, let's say we have a thousand users. In our algorithm, first we randomly determine a lucky user and we want to notify other users how close they're to the lucky user.

Example,

user_id 365 -> lucky user

my user_id 360 and in my page it should say 5 user away from the lucky user..

 

We cannot determine it using user_id cause there may be some irregularities due to the deleted user rows.

 

Any suggestions on how to determine the difference between lucky user and others.

 

Thanks

[corbin]

The first thing that comes to mind is:

 

 

SELECT COUNT(user_id) FROM users WHERE user_id BETWEEN $winner_id AND $loser_id;

 

 

 

(Which ever one is less will need to be first.)