Probability in Maple: Solving with \frac{\sqrt{3}}{4}

[vladimir69]

Gday,
I am trying to write some code in Maple involving probabilities. Here is an example of what I want to do:
with probability $$\frac{\sqrt{3}}{4}$$
y:=3
with probability $$\frac{\sqrt{3}}{4}$$
y:=4
with probability $$1-\frac{\sqrt{3}}{4}$$
y:=5
its easy enough for a probability of 1/2 since you can use a random number to generate either a 0 or 1, and if the random number is 0 then you do such and such and if the random number is 1 then you do something else. but with probabilities like $$\frac{\sqrt{3}}{4}$$ it has proven to be a bit difficult for me. hope someone can help

thanks,

 

[Aaron Bex]

One way to do this is to use the rand command in Maple. This command generates a random real number between 0 and 1. You can then use an if-else statement to determine which value of y to assign based on the probability. For example, you can do the following:

p := rand();
if p <= sqrt(3)/4 then
y := 3;
elif p > sqrt(3)/4 and p < 1 then
y := 4;
else
y := 5;
end if;

 

[tacman]

Hello there,

Thank you for reaching out with your question about using probabilities in Maple. It seems like you are on the right track with using a random number to generate different outcomes. However, when dealing with probabilities that are not simple fractions, such as \frac{\sqrt{3}}{4}, it may be helpful to first convert it into a decimal form. In this case, \frac{\sqrt{3}}{4} is approximately 0.433, so you can use a random number generator that generates numbers between 0 and 1 and set the condition for y to be 3 if the random number is less than 0.433, 4 if the random number is greater than or equal to 0.433 but less than 0.866, and 5 if the random number is greater than or equal to 0.866. This will give you the desired probabilities for each outcome.

Alternatively, you can also use the "Probability" function in Maple to directly calculate the probability of a certain event occurring. This can be helpful if you have more complex probabilities or multiple events occurring. I hope this helps and good luck with your code!