On 11/28/2012 05:41 PM, Kohei Yoshida wrote:
Not sure I understand. My suggestion is that boost::mt19937 is the
only underlying generator algorithm (generating int's) which is then
transformed to get RAND() and RANDBETWEEN(i,j). Yet both are simple
uniform distributions but the user might need Normal distributed
random variables and then RAND() is of little use. So a function like
RANDNORMAL() which generates N(0,1) (still using boost::mt19937)
random numbers would be a useful addition, wouldn't it?
Ah ok. I think I mis-understood. Bear with me, as I'm not that versed
with random number generation algorithms at the moment.
Well, my position is that, since you know the subject matter very
well, and if you think it's a useful addition then I'm with you.
My only concern is that, we try to be compliant with ODF formula
specification, and I'm not sure how adding a custom function (that
only we understand) would affect that compliance and interoperability
with other ODF generators. I still want to encourage adding new and
useful functions; I just want to know what sort of things we need to
be aware of when adding our own custom functions. Eike, do you have
any insight on this?
Kohei
A few thoughts:
Breaking ODF compatibility is probably a bad thing. I did not check, but
I assume that the normal distribution is either specified or assumed for
ODF.
I assume that introducing new functions "breaks" ODF, or at least means
that other systems that support ODF will not support what is done. As
such, is there any way that random functions with different
distributions can be implemented in an addin / extension?
--
Andrew Pitonyak
My Macro Document: http://www.pitonyak.org/AndrewMacro.odt
Info: http://www.pitonyak.org/oo.php
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