Generation of random number given the pmf

n=rand_gen(x,pmf,N) Generates a random signal n oh length N from a desird pmf.

Description

n=rand_gen(x,pmf,N)

esample :
x=[1,3,4] : set of variables
pmf=[1/3,1/3,1/3] : [rpbability of each variable of x
N=100 : number of samples of the random signal

• MATLAB release: MATLAB 7.7 (R2008b)

[Jos (10584)]

The lack of any help, comments, % symbol what so ever and the unvectorized engine makes this is poor submission. Finally, this functionality is already available here on the File Exchange.

[Furlan]

I submitted a new version whit the help comments and
a vectorial engine.
Brg
Ivan

[Michael Chen]

please see
http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/25481-discrete-multinomial-distribution-sampler
which is simpler and faster.

[Jos (10584)]

The help is certainly an improvement! You could add an H1 line to assist users of LOOKFOR.

However, floating point issues are not dealt with properly : rand_gen(x,[.1 .2 .3 .3 .1],N) returns an unexpected error .

And, as Michael Chen already pointed out, there are many alternatives on the FEX, including my own:
http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/8891

[Furlan]

Yes the check 'sum(pmf)==1' causes problem.
To avoid the unexpected error, I eliminated the check In the new submitted version.
Thank you for your suggestions.