How to pick a number based on probability? - algorithm

Question

I want to select a random number from 0,1,2,3...n, however I want to make it that the chance of selecting k|0<k<n will be lower by multiplication of x from selecting k - 1 so x = (k - 1) / k. As bigger the number as smaller the chances to pick it up.
As an answer I want to see the implementation of the next method:
int pickANumber(n,x)
This is for a game that I am developing, I saw those questions as related but not exactly that same:
How to pick an item by its probability
C Function for picking from a list where each element has a distinct probabili

Answer 1

p1 + p2 + ... + pn = 1
p1 = p2 * x
p2 = p3 * x
...
p_n-1 = pn * x
Solving this gives you:
p1 + p2 + ... + pn = 1
(p2 * x) + (p3 * x) + ... + (pn * x) + pn = 1
((p3*x) * x) + ((p4*x) * x) + ... + ((p_n-1*x) * x) + pn = 1
....
pn* (x^(n-1) + x^(n-2) + ... +x^1 + x^0) = 1
pn*(1-x^n)/(1-x) = 1
pn = (1-x)/(1-x^n)
This gives you the probability you need to set to pn, and from it you can calculate the probabilities for all other p1,p2,...p_n-1
Now, you can use a "black box" RNG that chooses a number with a distribution, like those in the threads you mentioned.
A simple approach to do it is to set an auxillary array:
aux[i] = p1 + p2 + ... + pi
Now, draw a random number with uniform distribution between 0 to aux[n], and using binary search (aux array is sorted), get the first value, which matching value in aux is greater than the random uniform number you got
Original answer, for substraction (before question was editted):
For n items, you need to solve the equation:
p1 + p2 + ... + pn = 1
p1 = p2 + x
p2 = p3 + x
...
p_n-1 = pn + x
Solving this gives you:
p1 + p2 + ... + pn = 1
(p2 + x) + (p3 + x) + ... + (pn + x) + pn = 1
((p3+x) + x) + ((p4+x) + x) + ... + ((p_n-1+x) + x) + pn = 1
....
pn* ((n-1)x + (n-2)x + ... +x + 0) = 1
pn* x = n(n-1)/2
pn = n(n-1)/(2x)
This gives you the probability you need to set to pn, and from it you can calculate the probabilities for all other p1,p2,...p_n-1
Now, you can use a "black box" RNG that chooses a number with a distribution, like those in the threads you mentioned.
Be advised, this is not guaranteed you will have a solution such that 0<p_i<1 for all i, but you cannot guarantee one given from your requirements, and it is going to depend on values of n and x to fit.

Answer 2

Edit This answer was for the OPs original question, which was different in that each probability was supposed to be lower by a fixed amount than the previous one.
Well, let's see what the constraints say. You want to have P(k) = P(k - 1) - x. So we have:
P(0)
P(1) = P(0) - x
P(2) = P(0) - 2x
...
In addition, Sumk P(k) = 1. Summing, we get:
1 = (n + 1)P(0) -x * n / 2 (n + 1),
This gives you an easy constraint between x and P(0). Solve for one in terms of the other.

Answer 3

For this I would use the Mersenne Twister algorithm for a uniform distribution which Boost provides, then have a mapping function to map the results of that random distribution to the actual number select.
Here's a quick example of a potential implementation, although I left out the quadtratic equation implementation since it is well known:
int f_of_xib(int x, int i, int b)
{
return x * i * i / 2 + b * i;
}
int b_of_x(int i, int x)
{
return (r - ( r ) / 2 );
}
int pickANumber(mt19937 gen, int n, int x)
{
// First, determine the range r required where the probability equals i * x
// since probability of each increasing integer is x higher of occuring.
// Let f(i) = r and given f'(i) = x * i then r = ( x * i ^2 ) / 2 + b * i
// where b = ( r - ( x * i ^ 2 ) / 2 ) / i . Since r = x when i = 1 from problem
// definition, this reduces down to b = r - r / 2. therefore to find r_max simply
// plugin x to find b, then plugin n for i, x, and b to get r_max since r_max occurs
// when n == i.
// Find b when
int b = b_of_x(x);
int r_max = f_of_xib(x, n, b);
boost::uniform_int<> range(0, r_max);
boost::variate_generator<boost::mt19937&, boost::uniform_int<> > next(gen, range);
// Now to map random number to desired number, just find the positive value for i
// when r is the return random number which boils down to finding the non-zero root
// when 0 = ( x * i ^ 2 ) / 2 + b * i - r
int random_number = next();
return quadtratic_equation_for_positive_value(1, b, r);
}
int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
mt19937 gen;
gen.seed(time(0));
pickANumber(gen, 10, 1);
system("pause");
}