paretovariate

[zhjchen]

I want to realize a list of numbers. They follow pareto distribution.
For instance, the average value is 10 and alpha is 1.0
I do not know how to use the function of paretovariate(a lpha). It only provides
alpha parameter. How should I set the average value?

[Casey]

Re: paretovariate

On Aug 11, 3:14 am, "zhjchen" <zhjc...@mail.u stc.edu.cnwrote :

I want to realize a list of numbers. They follow pareto distribution.
For instance, the average value is 10 and alpha is 1.0
I do not know how to use the function of paretovariate(a lpha). It only provides
alpha parameter. How should I set the average value?

I'm guessing that paretovalue(alp ha) treats alpha as the shape
parameter and assumes a mode of 1.0, in which case you would multiply
by 10 for your example.

Alternatively, you could define your own Pareto function:

# pareto for mode, shape 0.0
def pareto(mode, shape): return mode * pow(1.0 - random.random() ,
-1.0 / shape)