Percentage Distribution of numbers in AS3

Question

I need to generate 238 numbers, with a range of 1-4, but I want to weight them, so there's say 35% chance of getting 3, 28% chance of getting 2, 18% chance of getting 4m, and 19% chance of getting 1.

I found this..

def select( values ):
 variate = random.random() * sum( values.values() )
 cumulative = 0.0 
for item, weight in values.items():
     cumulative += weight
     if variate < cumulative:             return item
 return item # Shouldn't get here, but just in case of rounding...  print select( { "a": 70, "b": 20, "c": 10 } )

But I don't see how to convert that to AS3?

Answer 1

I would do something like this:

var values:Array = [1,2,3,4];
var weights:Array = [35, 28, 18, 19];

var total:Number = 0;
for(var i in weights) {
    total += weights[i];
}

var rndNum:Number = Math.floor(Math.random()*total);

var counter:Number = 0;
for(var j:Number = 0; j<weights.length; j++) {
    counter += weights[j];
    if( rndNum <= counter ) return values[j]; //This is the value
}

(untested code, but the idea should work)