Random.NextGeometric Method

Generate a pseudorandom number from a geometric distribution.

public virtual int NextGeometric(
double p
);

Parameters

p: A double which specifies the probability of success on each trial, $0 \lt p \le 1$ .

Return Value

A int which specifies a pseudorandom number from a geometric distribution.

Remarks

NextGeometric generates pseudorandom numbers from a geometric distribution with parameter p, where P =p is the probability of getting a success on any trial. A geometric deviate can be interpreted as the number of trials until the first success (including the trial in which the first success is obtained). The probability function is

$f(x) = P(1 - P)^{x - 1}$

for $x = 1, 2, \ldots$ and $0 \lt P \lt 1$

The geometric distribution as defined above has mean 1/P.

The i-th geometric deviate is generated as the smallest integer not less than , where the are independent uniform (0, 1) random numbers (see Knuth, 1981).

The geometric distribution is often defined on 0, 1, 2, ..., with mean (1 - P)/P. Such deviates can be obtained by subtracting 1 from each element returned value.

Random.NextGeometric Method

Parameters

Return Value

Remarks

See Also