From bolker@zoo.ufl.edu  Mon Jan 27 17:22:05 2003
From: bolker@zoo.ufl.edu (Ben Bolker)
Date: Mon Jan 27 17:22:05 2003
Subject: [Rd] rmultinom() -- how \\ via own C code?
In-Reply-To: <15925.13729.635531.38039@gargle.gargle.HOWL>
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.44.0301271121560.14293-100000@bolker.zoo.ufl.edu>

  I use multivariate random values frequently -- multinomial (using code
contributed to the R-list by Ian Wilson), Dirichlet (using ratios of
gamma/sum(gamma)), multivariate normal (using mvrnorm() from MASS, which I
wish were called rmvnorm instead!)  I have functions for them in some of
my home-brewed packages.  I would vote for adding some of them to the
recommended packages.

  Many multinomial distributions have matrices or vectors of arguments: if
one wants to generate multiple variates with different parameters, how
should these arguments be stacked?  e.g. for multinomial deviates, should
one be able to specify an m by p matrix for "prob" where m is a divisor of
n?

  The other minor point is that I usually give d- and r-functions for 
these distributions but not p- and q- (since I don't really want to think 
about defining, much less computing, multidimensional cumulative 
distributions ...)

  Ben

On Mon, 27 Jan 2003, Martin Maechler wrote:

> I've had a need for multinomial "random number generation"
> occasionally. And other people too.
> The following code is currently in the 
> (very small ``not very high importance'') CRAN package normix
>  --- which I will rename to "nor1mix" very seen because of a 
>     ``name registration'' problem
> 
> I want to add "this" (well the functionality) to a standard
> package -- "mva" probably.
> 
> The reason for my post is to ask about importance for C code
> (and a an official API to that).  
> 1) I think we have no clear precedence of a C interface to
>    **multivariate** random numbers, and
> 2) It might be of too marginal importance.
> 
> If you (discussants) conclude that a C interface is not at all
> desired, I consider using the R code as it is now -- which is
> not optimal --- and most importantly:
> If this should ever be changed, the change would hardly be
> back-compatible. 
> In other words, calling the not-yet existing C interface would
> produce different random numbers... 
> 
> ----
> 
> - Opinions ?
> 
> - Is there already C code around to do this ``in one step'' ?
> 
> Martin Maechler <maechler@stat.math.ethz.ch>	http://stat.ethz.ch/~maechler/
> Seminar fuer Statistik, ETH-Zentrum  LEO C16	Leonhardstr. 27
> ETH (Federal Inst. Technology)	8092 Zurich	SWITZERLAND
> phone: x-41-1-632-3408		fax: ...-1228			<><
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ## This is based on rmultz2() from S-news by Alan Zaslavsky & Scott Chasalow;
> ## in R available from library(combinat) -- but it has
> ## Arg.names like  rbinom();  returns  n x p matrix
> rmultinom <- function(n, size, prob) {
> 
>     K <- length(prob) # #{classes}
>     matrix(tabulate(sample(K, n * size, repl = TRUE, prob) + K * 0:(n - 1),
>                     nbins = n * K),
>            nrow = n, ncol = K, byrow = TRUE)
> }
> 
> ______________________________________________
> R-devel@stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list
> http://www.stat.math.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
> 

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[Rd] rmultinom() -- how \\ via own C code?
Ben Bolker