How can I generate random numbers with constraints?

Hello, I'm pretty new to Matlab and could use help.

I'm trying to set up a random number generation that holds my constraints.

I want a 1x7 matrix of random numbers ranging from 3 to 18, I attempted x=unidrnd((3:18),1,7) but that gave me an error.

I know x=unidrnd(18,1,7) works, but it will also choose 1 and 2 which I do not want.

I also attempted with x=randi([3 18], 7), but I ended up with a 7x7 matrix; I only want a 1x7.

Am I going about this the right way?

Answer 1

[Tanguy]

you're close to the right answer.

With randi, you can choose the size of your matrix. If you just put '7', Matlab will give you a square matrix 7*7.

But if you want a 1*7 matrix, just ask it :

x=randi([3 18], 1, 7)

have a nice day

Answer 2

[Thorsten]

randi was introduced in R2008A according to the internet

If you do have a version of Matlab without randi, you can use the following code.

% generate Nsamples integer random numbers between (and including) a and b
a = 3;
b = 18;

Nsamples = 7;
Nsamples = 1000; % choose a large number to test

x = a - 1 + ceil((b - a + 1)*rand([Nsamples 1]));
 % RAND never returns 0 or 1

Evaluate result

[v n] = unique(x);

stem(v, n/Nsamples, 'b.-')
box off
xlabel('Random numbers')
title(['Frequency of occurrences (' int2str(Nsamples) ' samples)'])
ylabel('Frequency of occurrence')
set(gca, 'XTick', [a:b])

Answer 3

[Craig Cowled]

I think you have actually answered your own question. If x = randi([3 18], 7); gives you a 7 x 7 matrix of random numbers between 3 and 18, then you only need to accept the first row. i.e., x1 = x(1, :);