C# random number generation code

This weekend Code Project posted an updated version of my article Simple Random Number Generation. The article comes with C# source code for generating random samples from the following distributions.

  • Cauchy
  • Chi square
  • Exponential
  • Inverse gamma
  • Laplace (double exponential)
  • Normal
  • Student t
  • Uniform
  • Weibull

After I submitted the revised article I realized I could have easily included a beta distribution generator. To generate a sample from a beta(a, b) distribution, generate a sample u from gamma(a, 1) and a sample v from gamma(b, 1) and return u/(u+v). (See why this works here.)

This isn’t the most efficient beta generator possible, especially for some parameters. But it’s not grossly inefficient either. Also, it’s very simple, and the code in that article emphasizes simplicity over efficiency.

The code doesn’t use advanced C# features; it could easily be translated to other languages.

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