Re: how about this idea for sampling in the simplex?

[Jason Alexander]

> I usually make some colossal mistake when I try to solve these
> problems for which I'm not well prepared, but in this thread I won't
> be the first ;)

Well, since I've made several colossal mistakes in this thread already,
let me see if I can actually avoid making one here... :)

I don't remember any post objecting to the following method:

 1. generate N-1 random numbers between 0.0 and 1.0
 2. sort them
 3. add 0.0 to the head of the list L and append 1.0
 4. let v[i] = L[i+1] - L[i]
 5. rearrange v

This sounds good, and I don't immediately see why it should be biased.
Since it's considerably simpler than other methods suggested, it would be
nice if it turned out to be all right.

My thanks to everyone who has responded to this thread.  I certainly
didn't expect this amount of discussion to result from what seemed to me
a simple question.

Cheers,

Jason




                  ==================================
   Swarm-Modelling is for discussion of Simulation and Modelling techniques
   esp. using Swarm.  For list administration needs (esp. [un]subscribing),
   please send a message to <address@hidden> with "help" in the
   body of the message.
                  ==================================