problem with SELECT DISTINCT query

I'm having the following table:

Table paragraph
ID | text | number
_________________
1|text1|1
2|text2|1
3|text3|1
4|text4|2
5|text5|2
6|text6|3
7|text7|3
8|text8|3
9|text9|3

I need to select 3 random rows that have DISTINCT number.

I use

SELECT DISTINCT number, id, text, number FROM paragraph ORDER BY rand() LIMIT 3

PHP:

but not working.

 

hi try this please

SELECT * FROM paragraph GROUP BY number ORDER BY RAND() LIMIT 0,3

Regards

Alex

 

But it always shows this, just the sequence changed.
1|text1|1
4|text4|2
6|text6|3

Not random choose.

 

how to random choose number?

 

Try this:

<?php
  //CODE FROM WWW.GREGGDEV.COM
  function random_row($table, $column) {
      $max_sql = "SELECT max(" . $column . ") 
                  AS max_id
                  FROM " . $table;
      $max_row = mysql_fetch_array(mysql_query($max_sql));
      $random_number = mt_rand(1, $max_row['max_id']);
      $random_sql = "SELECT * FROM " . $table . "
                     WHERE " . $column . " >= " . $random_number . " 
                     ORDER BY " . $column . " ASC
                     LIMIT 1";
      $random_row = mysql_fetch_row(mysql_query($random_sql));
      if (!is_array($random_row)) {
          $random_sql = "SELECT * FROM " . $table . "
                         WHERE " . $column . " < " . $random_number . " 
                         ORDER BY " . $column . " DESC
                         LIMIT 1";
          $random_row = mysql_fetch_row(mysql_query($random_sql));
      }
      return $random_row;
  }
  
  //USAGE
  echo '<pre>';
  print_r(random_row('YOUR_TABLE', 'YOUR_COLUMN'));
  echo '</pre>';
?>

Code (markup):