Select k random elements from a list whose element

Question

Selecting without any weights (equal probabilities) is beautifully described here.

I was wondering if there is a way to convert this approach to a weighted one.

I am also interested in other approaches as well.

Update: Sampling without replacement

Answer 1

I've done this in Ruby

https://github.com/fl00r/pickup

require 'pickup'
pond = {
  "selmon"  => 1,
  "carp" => 4,
  "crucian"  => 3,
  "herring" => 6,
  "sturgeon" => 8,
  "gudgeon" => 10,
  "minnow" => 20
}
pickup = Pickup.new(pond, uniq: true)
pickup.pick(3)
#=> [ "gudgeon", "herring", "minnow" ]
pickup.pick
#=> "herring"
pickup.pick
#=> "gudgeon"
pickup.pick
#=> "sturgeon"

Answer 2

If you want to generate large arrays of random integers with replacement, you can use piecewise linear interpolation. For example, using NumPy/SciPy:

import numpy
import scipy.interpolate

def weighted_randint(weights, size=None):
    """Given an n-element vector of weights, randomly sample
    integers up to n with probabilities proportional to weights"""
    n = weights.size
    # normalize so that the weights sum to unity
    weights = weights / numpy.linalg.norm(weights, 1)
    # cumulative sum of weights
    cumulative_weights = weights.cumsum()
    # piecewise-linear interpolating function whose domain is
    # the unit interval and whose range is the integers up to n
    f = scipy.interpolate.interp1d(
            numpy.hstack((0.0, weights)),
            numpy.arange(n + 1), kind='linear')
    return f(numpy.random.random(size=size)).astype(int)

This is not effective if you want to sample without replacement.

Answer 3

If you want to pick x elements from a weighted set without replacement such that elements are chosen with a probability proportional to their weights:

import random

def weighted_choose_subset(weighted_set, count):
    """Return a random sample of count elements from a weighted set.

    weighted_set should be a sequence of tuples of the form 
    (item, weight), for example:  [('a', 1), ('b', 2), ('c', 3)]

    Each element from weighted_set shows up at most once in the
    result, and the relative likelihood of two particular elements
    showing up is equal to the ratio of their weights.

    This works as follows:

    1.) Line up the items along the number line from [0, the sum
    of all weights) such that each item occupies a segment of
    length equal to its weight.

    2.) Randomly pick a number "start" in the range [0, total
    weight / count).

    3.) Find all the points "start + n/count" (for all integers n
    such that the point is within our segments) and yield the set
    containing the items marked by those points.

    Note that this implementation may not return each possible
    subset.  For example, with the input ([('a': 1), ('b': 1),
    ('c': 1), ('d': 1)], 2), it may only produce the sets ['a',
    'c'] and ['b', 'd'], but it will do so such that the weights
    are respected.

    This implementation only works for nonnegative integral
    weights.  The highest weight in the input set must be less
    than the total weight divided by the count; otherwise it would
    be impossible to respect the weights while never returning
    that element more than once per invocation.
    """
    if count == 0:
        return []

    total_weight = 0
    max_weight = 0
    borders = []
    for item, weight in weighted_set:
        if weight < 0:
            raise RuntimeError("All weights must be positive integers")
        # Scale up weights so dividing total_weight / count doesn't truncate:
        weight *= count
        total_weight += weight
        borders.append(total_weight)
        max_weight = max(max_weight, weight)

    step = int(total_weight / count)

    if max_weight > step:
        raise RuntimeError(
            "Each weight must be less than total weight / count")

    next_stop = random.randint(0, step - 1)

    results = []
    current = 0
    for i in range(count):
        while borders[current] <= next_stop:
            current += 1
        results.append(weighted_set[current][0])
        next_stop += step

    return results

Answer 4

Here's a Go implementation from geodns:

package foo

import (
    "log"
    "math/rand"
)

type server struct {
    Weight int
    data   interface{}
}

func foo(servers []server) {
    // servers list is already sorted by the Weight attribute

    // number of items to pick
    max := 4

    result := make([]server, max)

    sum := 0
    for _, r := range servers {
        sum += r.Weight
    }

    for si := 0; si < max; si++ {
        n := rand.Intn(sum + 1)
        s := 0

        for i := range servers {
            s += int(servers[i].Weight)
            if s >= n {
                log.Println("Picked record", i, servers[i])
                sum -= servers[i].Weight
                result[si] = servers[i]

                // remove the server from the list
                servers = append(servers[:i], servers[i+1:]...)
                break
            }
        }
    }

    return result
}

Answer 5

I have implemented an algorithm similar to Jason Orendorff's idea in Rust here. My version additionally supports bulk operations: insert and remove (when you want to remove a bunch of items given by their ids, not through the weighted selection path) from the data structure in O(m + log n) time where m is the number of items to remove and n the number of items in stored.

Answer 6

If the sampling is with replacement, use the roulette-wheel selection technique (often used in genetic algorithms):

1. sort the weights
2. compute the cumulative weights
3. pick a random number in [0,1]*totalWeight
4. find the interval in which this number falls into
5. select the elements with the corresponding interval
6. repeat k times

If the sampling is without replacement, you can adapt the above technique by removing the selected element from the list after each iteration, then re-normalizing the weights so that their sum is 1 (valid probability distribution function)