You kids today, you don't know anything about magic!

That's not magic, THIS is magic... :)

SELECT A.row_num
  FROM RowGenerator AS A
 ORDER BY ( SELECT MOD ( B.row_num, 10 )
              FROM RowGenerator AS B
             WHERE B.row_num = A.row_num ) DESC;

In case you want a DISORDERED TOP n clause and later SA versions do disturb you with their SQLCODE 122 warning ("The result returned is non-deterministic"), the following will help:

SELECT top 10 A.row_num
FROM RowGenerator AS A
ORDER BY RAND()

Somewhat strang that a function that is non-deterministic by definition serves as a deterministic ordering:)

Note: That's no criticism at SQLCODE 122 at all, it has been of help to me often enough:)

Actually... ORDER BY RAND() is a great idea for randomizing data. You don't have to generate a random number and then sort on that, just SELECT the item(s) you want and have them presented in random order. Sometimes it is a real PITA to have to include another column in the result set just to be able to do a sort; e.g., in a LIST() for example...

SELECT LIST ( A.row_num,
              ', ' 
              ORDER BY RAND() ) AS "1 to 10"
FROM ( SELECT TOP 10 row_num
         FROM RowGenerator 
        ORDER BY row_num ) AS A;

1 to 10
-----------------------------
4, 1, 7, 3, 2, 8, 6, 9, 5, 10

1 to 10
-----------------------------
5, 7, 4, 1, 9, 3, 8, 6, 10, 2