probabilistic
Class Choice

java.lang.Object
  probabilistic.Choice

public class Choice
extends Object

The class Choice contains the static method make. This method, given an array p of probabilities, returns an integer i, where 0 ≤ i < p.length, with probability p[i]. This method can be exploited to implement randomize algorithms. For example, the following snippet mimicks a coin flip.

 double[] p = { 0.5, 0.5 };
 switch (Choice.make(p)) 
 {
    case 0 : System.out.println("heads"); break;
    case 1 : System.out.println("tails"); break;
 }
 

Author:

Xin Zhang, Franck van Breugel

Method Summary

static int

make(double[] p) Given an array p of probabilities, returns i with probability p[i], where 0 ≤ i < p.length.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Method Detail

make

public static int make(double[] p)

Given an array p of probabilities, returns i with probability p[i], where 0 ≤ i < p.length.

Parameters:

p - probabilities.

Precondition:

p[0] + ... + p[p.length - 1] = 1.0.

Returns:

i with probability p[i].