Weighted random selection from array

Question

I would like to randomly select one element from an array, but each element has a known probability of selection.

All chances together (within the array) sums to 1.<

Answer 1

Ruby solution using the pickup gem:

require 'pickup'

chances = {0=>80, 1=>20}
picker = Pickup.new(chances)

Example:

5.times.collect {
  picker.pick(5)
}

gave output:

[[0, 0, 0, 0, 0], 
 [0, 0, 0, 0, 0], 
 [0, 0, 0, 1, 1], 
 [0, 0, 0, 0, 0], 
 [0, 0, 0, 0, 1]]