Defining percentage for random number - php

Question

My rand(0,1) php function returns me the 0 and 1 randomly when I call it.
Can I define something in php, so that it makes 30% numbers will be 0 and 70% numbers will be 1 for the random calls? Does php have any built in function for this?

Answer 1

Sure.
$rand = (float)rand()/(float)getrandmax();
if ($rand < 0.3)
$result = 0;
else
$result = 1;
You can deal with arbitrary results and weights, too.
$weights = array(0 => 0.3, 1 => 0.2, 2 => 0.5);
$rand = (float)rand()/(float)getrandmax();
foreach ($weights as $value => $weight) {
if ($rand < $weight) {
$result = $value;
break;
}
$rand -= $weight;
}

Answer 2

You can do something like this:
$rand = (rand(0,9) > 6 ? 1 : 0)
rand(0,9) will produce a random number between 0 and 9, and whenever that randomly generated number is greater than 6 (which should be nearly 70% time), it will give you 1 otherwise 0...
Obviously, it seems to be the easiest solution to me, but definitely, it wont give you 1 exactly 70% times, but should be quite near to do that, if done correctly.
But, I doubt that any solution based on rand will give you 1 exactly 70% times...

Answer 3

Generate a new random value between 1 and 100. If the value falls below 30, then use 0, and 1 otherwise:
$probability = rand(1, 100);
if ($probability < 30) {
echo 0;
} else {
echo 1;
}
To test this theory, consider the following loop:
$arr = array();
for ($i=0; $i < 10000; $i++) {
$rand = rand(0, 1);
$probability = rand(1, 100);
if ($probability < 30) {
$arr[] = 0;
} else {
$arr[] = 1;
}
}
$c = array_count_values($arr);
echo "0 = " . $c['0'] / 10000 * 100;
echo "1 = " . $c['1'] / 10000 * 100;
Output:
0 = 29.33
1 = 70.67

Answer 4

Create an array with 70% 1 and 30% 0s. Then random sort it. Then start picking numbers from the beginning of the array to the end :)
$num_array = array();
for($i = 0; $i < 3; $i++) $num_array[$i] = 0;
for($i = 0; $i < 7; $i++) $num_array[$i] = 1;
shuffle($num_array);
Pros:
You'll get exactly 30% 0 and 70% 1 for any such array.
Cons: Might take longer computation time than a rand() only solution to create the initial array.

Answer 5

I searched for an answer to my question and this was the topic I found.
But it didn't answered my question, so I had to figure it out myself, and I did :).
I figured out that maybe this will help someone else as well.
It's regarding what you asked, but for more usage.
Basically, I use it as a "power" calculator for a random generated item (let's say a weapon). The item has a "min power" and a "max power" value in the db. And I wanted to have 80% chances to have the "power" value closer to the lower 80% of the max possible power for the item, and 20% for the highest 20% possible max power (that are stored in the db).
So, to do this I did the following:
$min = 1; // this value is normally taken from the db
$max = 30; // this value is normally taken from the db
$total_possibilities = ($max - $min) + 1;
$rand = random_int(1, 100);
if ($rand <= 80) { // 80% chances
$new_max = $max - ($total_possibilities * 0.20); // remove 20% from the max value, so you can get a number only from the lowest 80%
$new_rand = random_int($min, $new_max);
} elseif ($rand <= 100) { // 20% chances
$new_min = $min + ($total_possibilities * 0.80); // add 80% for the min value, so you can get a number only from the highest 20%
$new_rand = random_int($new_min, $max);
}
echo $new_rand; // this will be the final item power
The only problem you can have, is if the initial $min and $max variables are the same (or obviously, if the $max is bigger than the $min). This will throw an error since the random works like this ($min, $max), not the other way around.
This code can be very easily changed to have more percentages for different purposes, instead of 80% and 20% to put 40%, 40% and 20% (or whatever you need). I think the code is pretty much easy to read and understand.
Sorry if this is not helpful, but I hope it is :).
It can't do any harm either way ;).