Improve recipe readability (GH-22685)

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Raymond Hettinger 2020-10-13 16:41:26 -07:00 committed by GitHub
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@ -253,6 +253,8 @@ Functions for sequences
order so that the sample is reproducible.
.. _real-valued-distributions:
Real-valued distributions
-------------------------
@ -516,52 +518,6 @@ Simulation of arrival times and service deliveries for a multiserver queue::
print(f'Mean wait: {mean(waits):.1f} Max wait: {max(waits):.1f}')
print('Quartiles:', [round(q, 1) for q in quantiles(waits)])
Recipes
-------
The default :func:`.random` returns multiples of 2⁻⁵³ in the range
*0.0 ≤ x < 1.0*. All such numbers are evenly spaced and exactly
representable as Python floats. However, many floats in that interval
are not possible selections. For example, ``0.05954861408025609``
isn't an integer multiple of 2⁻⁵³.
The following recipe takes a different approach. All floats in the
interval are possible selections. Conceptually it works by choosing
from evenly spaced multiples of 2⁻¹⁰⁷⁴ and then rounding down to the
nearest representable float.
For efficiency, the actual mechanics involve calling
:func:`~math.ldexp` to construct a representable float. The mantissa
comes from a uniform distribution of integers in the range *2⁵² ≤
mantissa < 2⁵³*. The exponent comes from a geometric distribution
where exponents smaller than *-53* occur half as often as the next
larger exponent.
::
from random import Random
from math import ldexp
class FullRandom(Random):
def random(self):
mantissa = 0x10_0000_0000_0000 | self.getrandbits(52)
exponent = -53
x = 0
while not x:
x = self.getrandbits(32)
exponent += x.bit_length() - 32
return ldexp(mantissa, exponent)
All of the real valued distributions will use the new method::
>>> fr = FullRandom()
>>> fr.random()
0.05954861408025609
>>> fr.expovariate(0.25)
8.87925541791544
.. seealso::
`Statistics for Hackers <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq9DzN6mvYA>`_
@ -583,6 +539,56 @@ All of the real valued distributions will use the new method::
the basics of probability theory, how to write simulations, and
how to perform data analysis using Python.
Recipes
-------
The default :func:`.random` returns multiples of 2⁻⁵³ in the range
*0.0 ≤ x < 1.0*. All such numbers are evenly spaced and are exactly
representable as Python floats. However, many floats in that interval
are not possible selections. For example, ``0.05954861408025609``
isn't an integer multiple of 2⁻⁵³.
The following recipe takes a different approach. All floats in the
interval are possible selections. The mantissa comes from a uniform
distribution of integers in the range *2⁵² ≤ mantissa < 2⁵³*. The
exponent comes from a geometric distribution where exponents smaller
than *-53* occur half as often as the next larger exponent.
::
from random import Random
from math import ldexp
class FullRandom(Random):
def random(self):
mantissa = 0x10_0000_0000_0000 | self.getrandbits(52)
exponent = -53
x = 0
while not x:
x = self.getrandbits(32)
exponent += x.bit_length() - 32
return ldexp(mantissa, exponent)
All :ref:`real valued distributions <real-valued-distributions>`
in the class will use the new method::
>>> fr = FullRandom()
>>> fr.random()
0.05954861408025609
>>> fr.expovariate(0.25)
8.87925541791544
The recipe is conceptually equivalent to an algorithm that chooses from
all the multiples of 2⁻¹⁰⁷⁴ in the range *0.0 ≤ x < 1.0*. All such
numbers are evenly spaced, but most have to be rounded down to the
nearest representable Python float. (The value 2⁻¹⁰⁷⁴ is the smallest
positive unnormalized float and is equal to ``math.ulp(0.0)``.)
.. seealso::
`Generating Pseudo-random Floating-Point Values
<https://allendowney.com/research/rand/downey07randfloat.pdf>`_ a
paper by Allen B. Downey describing ways to generate more