On Tue, May 13, 2008 at 7:08 PM, Gunnar Farnebäck <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > And I agree, don't even think of doing this with floating point > numbers.
This is a bit tangential to computer go. But you have piqued my curiosity.... Offhand, that sounds rather extreme to me. Perhaps I haven't really thought this through completely, but it seems as if there is a simple modification to the stated algorithm, that would ensure that it works fine with floating point numbers. Or at least well enough for any conceivable purpose: Make sure that you select each random number from a slightly larger range than prescribed by the exact totals. (For example, always round up while calculating the totals. If you do not have control over the rounding mode, just add on some small fraction of the largest weight.) Then, in the event that subtracting the weights of the points/rows/buckets never reduced the selected number to a non-positive value, just select a new random number and start over. Would this work fine, or is there some flaw in my thinking that Álvaro and Gunnar have already considered? Weston _______________________________________________ computer-go mailing list computer-go@computer-go.org http://www.computer-go.org/mailman/listinfo/computer-go/
