Class CombinationSampler

  • All Implemented Interfaces:
    ObjectSampler<int[]>, SharedStateObjectSampler<int[]>, SharedStateSampler<SharedStateObjectSampler<int[]>>

    public class CombinationSampler
    extends java.lang.Object
    implements SharedStateObjectSampler<int[]>
    Class for representing combinations of a sequence of integers.

    A combination is a selection of items from a collection, such that (unlike permutations) the order of selection does not matter. This sampler can be used to generate a combination in an unspecified order and is faster than the corresponding PermutationSampler.

    Note that the sample order is unspecified. For example a sample combination of 2 from 4 may return [0,1] or [1,0] as the two are equivalent, and the order of a given combination may change in subsequent samples.

    The sampler can be used to generate indices to select subsets where the order of the subset is not important.

    Sampling uses UniformRandomProvider.nextInt(int).

    See Also:
    PermutationSampler
    • Field Detail

      • domain

        private final int[] domain
        Domain of the combination.
      • steps

        private final int steps
        The number of steps of a full shuffle to perform.
      • upper

        private final boolean upper
        The section to copy the domain from after a partial shuffle.
    • Constructor Detail

      • CombinationSampler

        public CombinationSampler​(UniformRandomProvider rng,
                                  int n,
                                  int k)
        Creates a generator of combinations.

        The sample() method will generate an integer array of length k whose entries are selected randomly, without repetition, from the integers 0, 1, ..., n-1 (inclusive). The returned array represents a combination of n taken k.

        In contrast to a permutation, the returned array is not guaranteed to be in a random order. The sample() method returns the array in an unspecified order.

        If n <= 0 or k <= 0 or k > n then no combination is required and an exception is raised.

        Parameters:
        rng - Generator of uniformly distributed random numbers.
        n - Domain of the combination.
        k - Size of the combination.
        Throws:
        java.lang.IllegalArgumentException - if n <= 0 or k <= 0 or k > n.
      • CombinationSampler

        private CombinationSampler​(UniformRandomProvider rng,
                                   CombinationSampler source)
        Parameters:
        rng - Generator of uniformly distributed random numbers.
        source - Source to copy.
    • Method Detail

      • sample

        public int[] sample()
        Return a combination of k whose entries are selected randomly, without repetition, from the integers 0, 1, ..., n-1 (inclusive).

        The order of the returned array is not guaranteed to be in a random order as the order of a combination does not matter.

        Specified by:
        sample in interface ObjectSampler<int[]>
        Returns:
        a random combination.