Generate random float64 numbers in specific range using Golang - go

package main
import (
"fmt"
"math/rand"
"time"
)
func genRandNums(min, max float64) []float64 {
var randNums []float64
s := rand.NewSource(time.Now().Unix())
r := rand.New(s)
for x := 0; x < 10; x++ {
// generate random float in range of min and max inclusive, append
// to randNums and return randNums
}
return randNums
}
func main() {
nums := genRandNums(1.10, 101.98)
fmt.Println(nums)
}
I have tried searching online on how to accomplish this, but I only found out how to generate random integers in a range. Is there any way I can generate random floats in a range using Go stdlib?

Simply use rand.Float64() to get a random number in the range of [0..1), and you can map (project) that to the range of [min..max) like this:
r := min + rand.Float64() * (max - min)
And don't create a new rand.Rand and / or rand.Source in your function, just create a global one or use the global one of the math/rand package. But don't forget to initialize it once.
Here's an example function doing that:
func randFloats(min, max float64, n int) []float64 {
res := make([]float64, n)
for i := range res {
res[i] = min + rand.Float64() * (max - min)
}
return res
}
Using it:
func main() {
rand.Seed(time.Now().UnixNano())
fmt.Println(randFloats(1.10, 101.98, 5))
}
Output (try it on the Go Playground):
[51.43243344285539 51.92791316776663 45.04754409242326 28.77642913403846
58.21730813384373]
Some notes:
The code on the Go playground will always give the same random numbers (time is fixed, so most likely the Seed will always be the same, also output is cached)
The above solution is safe for concurrent use, because it uses rand.Float64() which uses the global rand which is safe. Should you create your own rand.Rand using a source obtained by rand.NewSource(), that would not be safe and neither the randFloats() using it.

if you want to use crypto/rand, here is another go playground for RandomInt() and RandomFloat() generator (float uses RandomInt inside with constant precision - you can make it as parameter)
Go playground

Related

How to get two length below the decimal point with golang?

From the source below, I want to get float type result 33.33.
If use fmt.Sprintf("%.2f", v) can work well. But want to get the result in the floatTest function. How to do?
func main() {
v := floatTest(30, 90)
fmt.Println(v)
// 33.33333333333333
vv := fmt.Sprintf("%.2f", v)
fmt.Println(vv)
// 33.33
}
func floatTest(count float64, total float64) float64 {
return (count / total * 100)
}
Multiply by 100; truncate via int conversion; convert back to float32 and divide by 100:
func precision2(f float64) float64 {
return float64(int(f*100)) / 100
}
https://play.golang.org/p/jbsdeQKgJji
This link has examples using the math package - but I generally try to avoid including packages for trivial operations.

Randomly generating a matrix in Golang

I'm currently writing a program and I want to randomly generate a matrix.
Currently I'm pre-setting the values in it as follows:
m1 := [3][3]int{
[3]int{1, 1, 1},
[3]int{4, 1, 7},
[3]int{1, 65, 1},
}
However I want the values inputted to be randomly generated in a range from 1-100.
import "math/rand"
I am importing the above library and trying to utilise it.
I have attempted to get this working however can't seem to make any headway.
m1 := [3][3]int{
[3]int{rand.Intn, 1, 1},
[3]int{4, 1, 7},
[3]int{1, 65, 1},
}
I have attempted to complete it with the above solution to make the first number random however I get the following error.
cannot use rand.Intn (type func(int) int) as type int in array or slice literal
Any help greatly appreciated.
The direct answer is the fact that rand.Intn() generates a random integer between 0 and n, where n is a parameter to this method. The error that you are getting is the compiler complaining that you are trying to initialize an int value with a function that requires two ints and returns one - you are trying to assign a function to an int. So the correct call would be something like rand.Intn(100), which will give you a random number between 0 - 100.
However, why do it this way? Why not dynamically initialize your array with random numbers as:
m1 := [3][3]int{}
for i:=0; i<3; i++ {
for j:=0; j<3; j++ {
m1[i][j] = rand.Int()
}
}
Answer to your question is answered above, this is an extension,
While rand.Int(10) always gives you 1, as it isn't seeded,
you can add this function to get random values each time you run your program,
package main
import (
"fmt"
"math/rand"
"time"
)
func init() {
rand.Seed(time.Now().UnixNano())
//we are seeding the rand variable with present time
//so that we would get different output each time
}
func main() {
randMatrix := make([][]int, 3)
// we have created a slice with length 3
//which can hold type []int, these can be of different length
for i := 0; i < 3; i++ {
randMatrix[i] = make([]int, 3)
// we are creating a slice which can hold type int
}
generate(randMatrix)
fmt.Println(randMatrix)
}
func generate(randMatrix [][]int) {
for i, innerArray := range randMatrix {
for j := range innerArray {
randMatrix[i][j] = rand.Intn(100)
//looping over each element of array and assigning it a random variable
}
}
}
This code generates random Matrix, below 100, while you can also use flags for any kind of future use and generalize the values,
import "flag"
var outerDim, innerDim, limit *int
func main() {
outerDim = flag.Int("outerDim", 3, "Outer dimension of the matrix")
innerDim = flag.Int("innerDim", 3, "inner dimenstion of the matrix")
limit = flag.Int("limit", 100, "matrix values are limited specified value")
flag.Parse()
randMatrix := make([][]int, *outerDim)
for i := 0; i < *outerDim; i++ {
randMatrix[i] = make([]int, *innerDim)
}
generate(randMatrix)
printMatrix(randMatrix)
}
func generate(randMatrix [][]int) {
for i, innerArray := range randMatrix {
for j := range innerArray {
randMatrix[i][j] = rand.Intn(*limit)
}
}
}
func printMatrix(randMatrix [][]int) {
//looping over 2D slice and extracting 1D slice to val
for _, val := range randMatrix {
fmt.Println(val)// printing each slice
}
}
We could modify the printMatrix function above, by looping over each integer and then formatting it well by using fmt.Printf(), but that would complicate things when we don't known the length of the limit...

How to generate a stream of *unique* random numbers in Go using the standard library

How can I generate a stream of unique random number in Go?
I want to guarantee there are no duplicate values in array a using math/rand and/or standard Go library utilities.
func RandomNumberGenerator() *rand.Rand {
s1 := rand.NewSource(time.Now().UnixNano())
r1 := rand.New(s1)
return r1
}
rng := RandomNumberGenerator()
N := 10000
for i := 0; i < N; i++ {
a[i] = rng.Int()
}
There are questions and solutions on how to generate a series of random number in Go, for example, here.
But I would like to generate a series of random numbers that does not duplicate previous values. Is there a standard/recommended way to achieve this in Go?
My guess is to (1) use permutation or to (2) keep track of previously generated numbers and regenerate a value if it's been generated before.
But solution (1) sounds like overkill if I only want a few number and (2) sounds very time consuming if I end up generating a long series of random numbers due to collision, and I guess it's also very memory-consuming.
Use Case: To benchmark a Go program with 10K, 100K, 1M pseudo-random number that has no duplicates.
You should absolutely go with approach 2. Let's assume you're running on a 64-bit machine, and thus generating 63-bit integers (64 bits, but rand.Int never returns negative numbers). Even if you generate 4 billion numbers, there's still only a 1 in 4 billion chance that any given number will be a duplicate. Thus, you'll almost never have to regenerate, and almost never never have to regenerate twice.
Try, for example:
type UniqueRand struct {
generated map[int]bool
}
func (u *UniqueRand) Int() int {
for {
i := rand.Int()
if !u.generated[i] {
u.generated[i] = true
return i
}
}
}
I had similar task to pick elements from initial slice by random uniq index. So from slice with 10k elements get 1k random uniq elements.
Here is simple head on solution:
import (
"time"
"math/rand"
)
func getRandomElements(array []string) []string {
result := make([]string, 0)
existingIndexes := make(map[int]struct{}, 0)
randomElementsCount := 1000
for i := 0; i < randomElementsCount; i++ {
randomIndex := randomIndex(len(array), existingIndexes)
result = append(result, array[randomIndex])
}
return result
}
func randomIndex(size int, existingIndexes map[int]struct{}) int {
rand.Seed(time.Now().UnixNano())
for {
randomIndex := rand.Intn(size)
_, exists := existingIndexes[randomIndex]
if !exists {
existingIndexes[randomIndex] = struct{}{}
return randomIndex
}
}
}
I see two reasons for wanting this. You want to test a random number generator, or you want unique random numbers.
You're Testing A Random Number Generator
My first question is why? There's plenty of solid random number generators available. Don't write your own, it's basically dabbling in cryptography and that's never a good idea. Maybe you're testing a system that uses a random number generator to generate random output?
There's a problem: there's no guarantee random numbers are unique. They're random. There's always a possibility of collision. Testing that random output is unique is incorrect.
Instead, you want to test the results are distributed evenly. To do this I'll reference another answer about how to test a random number generator.
You Want Unique Random Numbers
From a practical perspective you don't need guaranteed uniqueness, but to make collisions so unlikely that it's not a concern. This is what UUIDs are for. They're 128 bit Universally Unique IDentifiers. There's a number of ways to generate them for particular scenarios.
UUIDv4 is basically just a 122 bit random number which has some ungodly small chance of a collision. Let's approximate it.
n = how many random numbers you'll generate
M = size of the keyspace (2^122 for a 122 bit random number)
P = probability of collision
P = n^2/2M
Solving for n...
n = sqrt(2MP)
Setting P to something absurd like 1e-12 (one in a trillion), we find you can generate about 3.2 trillion UUIDv4s with a 1 in a trillion chance of collision. You're 1000 times more likely to win the lottery than have a collision in 3.2 trillion UUIDv4s. I think that's acceptable.
Here's a UUIDv4 library in Go to use and a demonstration of generating 1 million unique random 128 bit values.
package main
import (
"fmt"
"github.com/frankenbeanies/uuid4"
)
func main() {
for i := 0; i <= 1000000; i++ {
uuid := uuid4.New().Bytes()
// use the uuid
}
}
you can generate a unique random number with len(12) using UnixNano in golang time package :
uniqueNumber:=time.Now().UnixNano()/(1<<22)
println(uniqueNumber)
it's always random :D
1- Fast positive and negative int32 unique pseudo random numbers in 296ms using std lib:
package main
import (
"fmt"
"math/rand"
"time"
)
func main() {
const n = 1000000
rand.Seed(time.Now().UTC().UnixNano())
duplicate := 0
mp := make(map[int32]struct{}, n)
var r int32
t := time.Now()
for i := 0; i < n; {
r = rand.Int31()
if i&1 == 0 {
r = -r
}
if _, ok := mp[r]; ok {
duplicate++
} else {
mp[r] = zero
i++
}
}
fmt.Println(time.Since(t))
fmt.Println("len: ", len(mp))
fmt.Println("duplicate: ", duplicate)
positive := 0
for k := range mp {
if k > 0 {
positive++
}
}
fmt.Println(`n=`, n, `positive=`, positive)
}
var zero = struct{}{}
output:
296.0169ms
len: 1000000
duplicate: 118
n= 1000000 positive= 500000
2- Just fill the map[int32]struct{}:
for i := int32(0); i < n; i++ {
m[i] = zero
}
When reading it is not in order in Go:
for k := range m {
fmt.Print(k, " ")
}
And this just takes 183ms for 1000000 unique numbers, no duplicate (The Go Playground):
package main
import (
"fmt"
"time"
)
func main() {
const n = 1000000
m := make(map[int32]struct{}, n)
t := time.Now()
for i := int32(0); i < n; i++ {
m[i] = zero
}
fmt.Println(time.Since(t))
fmt.Println("len: ", len(m))
// for k := range m {
// fmt.Print(k, " ")
// }
}
var zero = struct{}{}
3- Here is the simple but slow (this takes 22s for 200000 unique numbers), so you may generate and save it to a file once:
package main
import "time"
import "fmt"
import "math/rand"
func main() {
dup := 0
t := time.Now()
const n = 200000
rand.Seed(time.Now().UTC().UnixNano())
var a [n]int32
var exist bool
for i := 0; i < n; {
r := rand.Int31()
exist = false
for j := 0; j < i; j++ {
if a[j] == r {
dup++
fmt.Println(dup)
exist = true
break
}
}
if !exist {
a[i] = r
i++
}
}
fmt.Println(time.Since(t))
}
Temporary workaround based on #joshlf's answer
type UniqueRand struct {
generated map[int]bool //keeps track of
rng *rand.Rand //underlying random number generator
scope int //scope of number to be generated
}
//Generating unique rand less than N
//If N is less or equal to 0, the scope will be unlimited
//If N is greater than 0, it will generate (-scope, +scope)
//If no more unique number can be generated, it will return -1 forwards
func NewUniqueRand(N int) *UniqueRand{
s1 := rand.NewSource(time.Now().UnixNano())
r1 := rand.New(s1)
return &UniqueRand{
generated: map[int]bool{},
rng: r1,
scope: N,
}
}
func (u *UniqueRand) Int() int {
if u.scope > 0 && len(u.generated) >= u.scope {
return -1
}
for {
var i int
if u.scope > 0 {
i = u.rng.Int() % u.scope
}else{
i = u.rng.Int()
}
if !u.generated[i] {
u.generated[i] = true
return i
}
}
}
Client side code
func TestSetGet2(t *testing.T) {
const N = 10000
for _, mask := range []int{0, -1, 0x555555, 0xaaaaaa, 0x333333, 0xcccccc, 0x314159} {
rng := NewUniqueRand(2*N)
a := make([]int, N)
for i := 0; i < N; i++ {
a[i] = (rng.Int() ^ mask) << 1
}
//Benchmark Code
}
}

What is the correct way to find the min between two integers in Go?

I imported the math library in my program, and I was trying to find the minimum of three numbers in the following way:
v1[j+1] = math.Min(v1[j]+1, math.Min(v0[j+1]+1, v0[j]+cost))
where v1 is declared as:
t := "stackoverflow"
v1 := make([]int, len(t)+1)
However, when I run my program I get the following error:
./levenshtein_distance.go:36: cannot use int(v0[j + 1] + 1) (type int) as type float64 in argument to math.Min
I thought it was weird because I have another program where I write
fmt.Println(math.Min(2,3))
and that program outputs 2 without complaining.
so I ended up casting the values as float64, so that math.Min could work:
v1[j+1] = math.Min(float64(v1[j]+1), math.Min(float64(v0[j+1]+1), float64(v0[j]+cost)))
With this approach, I got the following error:
./levenshtein_distance.go:36: cannot use math.Min(int(v1[j] + 1), math.Min(int(v0[j + 1] + 1), int(v0[j] + cost))) (type float64) as type int in assignment
so to get rid of the problem, I just casted the result back to int
I thought this was extremely inefficient and hard to read:
v1[j+1] = int(math.Min(float64(v1[j]+1), math.Min(float64(v0[j+1]+1), float64(v0[j]+cost))))
I also wrote a small minInt function, but I think this should be unnecessary because the other programs that make use of math.Min work just fine when taking integers, so I concluded this has to be a problem of my program and not the library per se.
Is there anything that I'm doing terrible wrong?
Here's a program that you can use to reproduce the issues above, line 36 specifically:
package main
import (
"math"
)
func main() {
LevenshteinDistance("stackoverflow", "stackexchange")
}
func LevenshteinDistance(s string, t string) int {
if s == t {
return 0
}
if len(s) == 0 {
return len(t)
}
if len(t) == 0 {
return len(s)
}
v0 := make([]int, len(t)+1)
v1 := make([]int, len(t)+1)
for i := 0; i < len(v0); i++ {
v0[i] = i
}
for i := 0; i < len(s); i++ {
v1[0] = i + 1
for j := 0; j < len(t); j++ {
cost := 0
if s[i] != t[j] {
cost = 1
}
v1[j+1] = int(math.Min(float64(v1[j]+1), math.Min(float64(v0[j+1]+1), float64(v0[j]+cost))))
}
for j := 0; j < len(v0); j++ {
v0[j] = v1[j]
}
}
return v1[len(t)]
}
Until Go 1.18 a one-off function was the standard way; for example, the stdlib's sort.go does it near the top of the file:
func min(a, b int) int {
if a < b {
return a
}
return b
}
You might still want or need to use this approach so your code works on Go versions below 1.18!
Starting with Go 1.18, you can write a generic min function which is just as efficient at run time as the hand-coded single-type version, but works with any type with < and > operators:
func min[T constraints.Ordered](a, b T) T {
if a < b {
return a
}
return b
}
func main() {
fmt.Println(min(1, 2))
fmt.Println(min(1.5, 2.5))
fmt.Println(min("Hello", "世界"))
}
There's been discussion of updating the stdlib to add generic versions of existing functions, but if that happens it won't be until a later version.
math.Min(2, 3) happened to work because numeric constants in Go are untyped. Beware of treating float64s as a universal number type in general, though, since integers above 2^53 will get rounded if converted to float64.
There is no built-in min or max function for integers, but it’s simple to write your own. Thanks to support for variadic functions we can even compare more integers with just one call:
func MinOf(vars ...int) int {
min := vars[0]
for _, i := range vars {
if min > i {
min = i
}
}
return min
}
Usage:
MinOf(3, 9, 6, 2)
Similarly here is the max function:
func MaxOf(vars ...int) int {
max := vars[0]
for _, i := range vars {
if max < i {
max = i
}
}
return max
}
For example,
package main
import "fmt"
func min(x, y int) int {
if x < y {
return x
}
return y
}
func main() {
t := "stackoverflow"
v0 := make([]int, len(t)+1)
v1 := make([]int, len(t)+1)
cost := 1
j := 0
v1[j+1] = min(v1[j]+1, min(v0[j+1]+1, v0[j]+cost))
fmt.Println(v1[j+1])
}
Output:
1
Though the question is quite old, maybe my package imath can be helpful for someone who does not like reinventing a bicycle. There are few functions, finding minimal of two integers: ix.Min (for int), i8.Min (for int8), ux.Min (for uint) and so on. The package can be obtained with go get, imported in your project by URL and functions referred as typeabbreviation.FuncName, for example:
package main
import (
"fmt"
"<Full URL>/go-imath/ix"
)
func main() {
a, b := 45, -42
fmt.Println(ix.Min(a, b)) // Output: -42
}
As the accepted answer states, with the introduction of generics in go 1.18 it's now possible to write a generic function that provides min/max for different numeric types (there is not one built into the language). And with variadic arguments we can support comparing 2 elements or a longer list of elements.
func Min[T constraints.Ordered](args ...T) T {
min := args[0]
for _, x := range args {
if x < min {
min = x
}
}
return min
}
func Max[T constraints.Ordered](args ...T) T {
max := args[0]
for _, x := range args {
if x > max {
max = x
}
}
return max
}
example calls:
Max(1, 2) // 2
Max(4, 5, 3, 1, 2) // 5
Could use https://github.com/pkg/math:
import (
"fmt"
"github.com/pkg/math"
)
func main() {
a, b := 45, -42
fmt.Println(math.Min(a, b)) // Output: -42
}
Since the issue has already been resolved, I would like to add a few words. Always remember that the math package in Golang operates on float64. You can use type conversion to cast int into a float64. Keep in mind to account for type ranges. For example, you cannot fit a float64 into an int16 if the number exceeds the limit for int16 which is 32767. Last but not least, if you convert a float into an int in Golang, the decimal points get truncated without any rounding.
If you want the minimum of a set of N integers you can use (assuming N > 0):
import "sort"
func min(set []int) int {
sort.Slice(set, func(i, j int) bool {
return set[i] < set[j]
})
return set[0]
}
Where the second argument to min function is your less function, that is, the function that decides when an element i of the passed slice is less than an element j
Check it out here in Go Playground: https://go.dev/play/p/lyQYlkwKrsA

Generating Random Numbers in Go

I am trying to generate random numbers (integers) in Go, to no avail. I found the rand package in crypto/rand, which seems to be what I want, but I can't tell from the documentation how to use it. This is what I'm trying right now:
b := []byte{}
something, err := rand.Read(b)
fmt.Printf("something = %v\n", something)
fmt.Printf("err = %v\n", err)
But unfortunately this always outputs:
something = 0
err = <nil>
Is there a way to fix this so that it actually generates random numbers? Alternatively, is there a way to set the upper bound on the random numbers this generates?
Depending on your use case, another option is the math/rand package. Don't do this if you're generating numbers that need to be completely unpredictable. It can be helpful if you need to get results that are reproducible, though -- just pass in the same seed you passed in the first time.
Here's the classic "seed the generator with the current time and generate a number" program:
package main
import (
"fmt"
"math/rand"
"time"
)
func main() {
rand.Seed(time.Now().Unix())
fmt.Println(rand.Int())
}
crypto/rand provides only binary stream of random data, but you can read integers from it using encoding/binary:
package main
import "encoding/binary"
import "crypto/rand"
func main() {
var n int32
binary.Read(rand.Reader, binary.LittleEndian, &n)
println(n)
}
As of 1 april 2012, after the release of the stable version of the lang, you can do the following:
package main
import "fmt"
import "time"
import "math/rand"
func main() {
rand.Seed(time.Now().UnixNano()) // takes the current time in nanoseconds as the seed
fmt.Println(rand.Intn(100)) // this gives you an int up to but not including 100
}
You can also develop your own random number generator, perhaps based upon a simple "desert island PRNG", a Linear Congruential Generator. Also, look up L'Ecuyer (1999), Mersenne Twister, or Tausworthe generator...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudorandom_number_generator
(Avoid RANDU, it was popular in the 1960's, but the random numbers generated fall on 15 hyperplanes in 3-space).
package pmPRNG
import "errors"
const (
Mersenne31 = 2147483647 // = 2^31-1
Mersenne31Inv = 1.0 / 2147483647.0 // = 4.656612875e-10
// a = 16807
a = 48271
)
// Each stream gets own seed
type PRNGStream struct {
state int
}
func PRNGStreamNew(seed int) *PRNGStream {
prng := (&PRNGStream{})
prng.SetSeed(seed)
return prng
}
// enforce seed in [1, 2^31-1]
func (r*PRNGStream) SetSeed(seed int) error {
var err error
if seed < 1 || seed > Mersenne31 {
err = errors.New("Seed OOB")
}
if seed > Mersenne31 { seed = seed % Mersenne31 }
if seed < 1 { seed = 1 }
r.state = seed
return err
}
// Dig = Park-Miller DesertIslandGenerator
// integer seed in [1, 2^31-1]
func (r*PRNGStream) Dig(seed int) float32 {
xprev := r.state // x[i-1]
xnext := (a * xprev) % Mersenne31 // x[i] = (a*x[i-1])%m
r.state = xnext // x[i-1] = x[i]
Ri := float32(xnext) * Mersenne31Inv // convert Ui to Ri
return Ri
}
func (r*PRNGStream) Rand() float32 {
r.state = (uint64_t)*r.state * Multby % 0x7fffffff
return float32(r.state) * Mersenne31Inv
}
A few relevant links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lehmer_random_number_generator
You might use this function to update your x[i+1], instead of the one above,
val = ((state * 1103515245) + 12345) & 0x7fffffff
(basically, different values of a, c, m)
https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/understanding-random-number-generators-and-their-limitations-linux
https://www.iro.umontreal.ca/~lecuyer/myftp/papers/handstat.pdf
https://www.math.utah.edu/~alfeld/Random/Random.html
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/archive/msdn-magazine/2016/august/test-run-lightweight-random-number-generation

Resources