Re: For Loop and Array related
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg58001] Re: For Loop and Array related
- From: Jean-Marc Gulliet <jeanmarc.gulliet at gmail.com>
- Date: Thu, 16 Jun 2005 05:35:58 -0400 (EDT)
- Organization: The Open University, Milton Keynes, England
- References: <d8oucl$t6q$1@smc.vnet.net>
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
mchangun at gmail.com wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I have an array with 100 elements, all set to zero initially. Then I
> want to randomly choose one element and increase its value by one, and
> repeat this 16000 times. Here is my code:
>
> Lattice = Table[0, {n, 100}];
> For[i = 1, i = 16000, i++, Lattice[[Random[Integer, {1, 100}]]]++]
>
> So now if I add all the elements in the list Lattice together, I should
> get 16000 (I use Total[Lattice] to get the sum of the list). But this
> doesn't happen, and strangely, each time I run this, the sum of the
> list is different! What am I doing wrong?
>
> Also I'm aware that a lot of Mathematica newbies try and write code
> like it were C++ and I think i've fallen into this trap as well. So is
> there a different (more Mathematica) way which I can implement the
> above?
>
> Thanks in advanced.
>
Hi,
Using the *Random* function directly within an assignment where the
indices are supposed to be the same on both side might not be a good
idea! You will find below the same function written in a slightly more
Mathematica way: a *Do* loop is used since the index is not used in the
body of the program and the index is first computed and saved in a
variable before being used by the following instruction that increments
the value of the corresponding element. Also, avoid defining symbol
names that begin by a capital letter.
In[1]:=
data = Table[0, {n, 100}];
Do[index = Random[Integer, {1, 100}]; data[[index]]++, {16000}];
Total[data]
Out[3]=
16000
Best regards,
/J.M.