blob: b83e6ab7ddcf248a4daa030108d20e1a72b51418 (
plain)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
|
\section{Standard Module \sectcode{whrandom}}
\label{module-whrandom}
\stmodindex{whrandom}
This module implements a Wichmann-Hill pseudo-random number generator
class that is also named \code{whrandom}. Instances of the
\code{whrandom} class have the following methods:
\begin{funcdesc}{choice}{seq}
Chooses a random element from the non-empty sequence \var{seq} and returns it.
\end{funcdesc}
\begin{funcdesc}{randint}{a, b}
Returns a random integer \var{N} such that \code{\var{a}<=\var{N}<=\var{b}}.
\end{funcdesc}
\begin{funcdesc}{random}{}
Returns the next random floating point number in the range [0.0 ... 1.0).
\end{funcdesc}
\begin{funcdesc}{seed}{x, y, z}
Initializes the random number generator from the integers
\var{x},
\var{y}
and
\var{z}.
When the module is first imported, the random number is initialized
using values derived from the current time.
\end{funcdesc}
\begin{funcdesc}{uniform}{a, b}
Returns a random real number \var{N} such that \code{\var{a}<=\var{N}<\var{b}}.
\end{funcdesc}
When imported, the \code{whrandom} module also creates an instance of
the \code{whrandom} class, and makes the methods of that instance
available at the module level. Therefore one can write either
\code{N = whrandom.random()} or:
\begin{verbatim}
generator = whrandom.whrandom()
N = generator.random()
\end{verbatim}
%
\begin{seealso}
\seemodule{random}{generators for various random distributions}
\seetext{Wichmann, B. A. \& Hill, I. D., ``Algorithm AS 183:
An efficient and portable pseudo-random number generator'',
\emph{Applied Statistics} 31 (1982) 188-190}
\end{seealso}
|
