Get a random number focused on center

Question

Is it possible to get a random number between 1-100 and keep the results mainly within the 40-60 range? I mean, it will go out of that range rarely, but I want it to be main

Answer 1

You can write a function that maps random values between [0, 1) to [1, 100] according to weight. Consider this example:

Here, the value 0.95 maps to value between [61, 100].
In fact we have .05 / .1 = 0.5, which, when mapped to [61, 100], yields 81.

Here is the function:

/*
 * Function that returns a function that maps random number to value according to map of probability
 */
function createDistributionFunction(data) {
  // cache data + some pre-calculations
  var cache = [];
  var i;
  for (i = 0; i < data.length; i++) {
    cache[i] = {};
    cache[i].valueMin = data[i].values[0];
    cache[i].valueMax = data[i].values[1];
    cache[i].rangeMin = i === 0 ? 0 : cache[i - 1].rangeMax;
    cache[i].rangeMax = cache[i].rangeMin + data[i].weight;
  }
  return function(random) {
    var value;
    for (i = 0; i < cache.length; i++) {
      // this maps random number to the bracket and the value inside that bracket
      if (cache[i].rangeMin <= random && random < cache[i].rangeMax) {
        value = (random - cache[i].rangeMin) / (cache[i].rangeMax - cache[i].rangeMin);
        value *= cache[i].valueMax - cache[i].valueMin + 1;
        value += cache[i].valueMin;
        return Math.floor(value);
      }
    }
  };
}

/*
 * Example usage
 */
var distributionFunction = createDistributionFunction([
  { weight: 0.1, values: [1, 40] },
  { weight: 0.8, values: [41, 60] },
  { weight: 0.1, values: [61, 100] }
]);

/*
 * Test the example and draw results using Google charts API
 */
function testAndDrawResult() {
  var counts = [];
  var i;
  var value;
  // run the function in a loop and count the number of occurrences of each value
  for (i = 0; i < 10000; i++) {
    value = distributionFunction(Math.random());
    counts[value] = (counts[value] || 0) + 1;
  }
  // convert results to datatable and display
  var data = new google.visualization.DataTable();
  data.addColumn("number", "Value");
  data.addColumn("number", "Count");
  for (value = 0; value < counts.length; value++) {
    if (counts[value] !== undefined) {
      data.addRow([value, counts[value]]);
    }
  }
  var chart = new google.visualization.ColumnChart(document.getElementById("chart"));
  chart.draw(data);
}
google.load("visualization", "1", { packages: ["corechart"] });
google.setOnLoadCallback(testAndDrawResult);