From: "M. Edward (Ed) Borasky" <znmeb@...>
Date: 2008-08-17T12:19:52+09:00
Subject: Re: Generating Normally Distributed Random Numbers?

On Sun, 2008-08-17 at 11:24 +0900, Michael Craig wrote:
> Does anybody know of a good method in Ruby to generate normally distributed
> random numbers? The application I have in mind at the moment is trivial, but
> I can think of a number of statistics-oriented applications.
> 
> Thanks, all,
> Mike

The algorithm for generating Gaussian random numbers is
language-independent. It's pretty simple to code if you have a good
generator of uniform random numbers from 0 to 1. It involves generating
*pairs* of uniform random numbers and doing a little math that involves
rectangular and polar coordinates.

Given that, you can now search Google with the query "Gaussian random
numbers". :) 
-- 
M. Edward (Ed) Borasky
ruby-perspectives.blogspot.com

"A mathematician is a machine for turning coffee into theorems." --
Alfr��d R��nyi via Paul Erd��s