为random.choice()提供一个预先加权的列表:

解决方案和测试:

import random

options = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd']
weights = [1, 2, 5, 2]

weighted_options = [[opt]*wgt for opt, wgt in zip(options, weights)]
weighted_options = [opt for sublist in weighted_options for opt in sublist]
print(weighted_options)

# test

counts = {c: 0 for c in options}
for x in range(10000):
    counts[random.choice(weighted_options)] += 1

for opt, wgt in zip(options, weights):
    wgt_r = counts[opt] / 10000 * sum(weights)
    print(opt, counts[opt], wgt, wgt_r)

输出:

['a', 'b', 'b', 'c', 'c', 'c', 'c', 'c', 'd', 'd']
a 1025 1 1.025
b 1948 2 1.948
c 5019 5 5.019
d 2008 2 2.008

下面是使用numpy的另一个版本的weighted_choice。传入weights向量，它将返回一个由0组成的数组，其中包含一个1，表示所选择的bin。该代码默认只进行一次绘制，但您可以传入绘制的数量，并且将返回每个绘制的bin的计数。

如果权重向量的和不等于1，它将被规范化，使之等于1。

import numpy as np

def weighted_choice(weights, n=1):
    if np.sum(weights)!=1:
        weights = weights/np.sum(weights)

    draws = np.random.random_sample(size=n)

    weights = np.cumsum(weights)
    weights = np.insert(weights,0,0.0)

    counts = np.histogram(draws, bins=weights)
    return(counts[0])

从Python v3.6开始，是随机的。选项可用于从给定的填充中返回具有可选权重的指定大小的元素列表。

随机的。select (population, weights=None， *， cum_weights=None, k=1)

总体:包含独特观测值的列表。(如果为空，则引发IndexError) 权重:进行选择所需的更精确的相对权重。 Cum_weights:进行选择所需的累积权重。 K:要输出列表的大小(len)。(默认len () = 1)

一些注意事项:

1)利用加权抽样与替换，使绘制的项目以后可以被替换。权重序列中的值本身并不重要，但它们的相对比例却很重要。

np.random.choice只能将概率作为权重，也必须确保个人概率的总和达到1个标准，但这里没有这样的规定。只要它们属于数值类型(int/float/fraction, Decimal类型除外)，就仍然可以执行。

>>> import random
# weights being integers
>>> random.choices(["white", "green", "red"], [12, 12, 4], k=10)
['green', 'red', 'green', 'white', 'white', 'white', 'green', 'white', 'red', 'white']
# weights being floats
>>> random.choices(["white", "green", "red"], [.12, .12, .04], k=10)
['white', 'white', 'green', 'green', 'red', 'red', 'white', 'green', 'white', 'green']
# weights being fractions
>>> random.choices(["white", "green", "red"], [12/100, 12/100, 4/100], k=10)
['green', 'green', 'white', 'red', 'green', 'red', 'white', 'green', 'green', 'green']

2)如果既没有指定weights，也没有指定cum_weights，则以等概率进行选择。如果提供了权重序列，则它必须与填充序列的长度相同。

同时指定weights和cum_weights将引发TypeError。

>>> random.choices(["white", "green", "red"], k=10)
['white', 'white', 'green', 'red', 'red', 'red', 'white', 'white', 'white', 'green']

3) cum_weights通常是itertools的结果。累加函数在这种情况下非常方便。

从文档链接: 在内部，相对权重被转换为累积权重 在进行选择之前，提供累计权重可以节省 工作。

因此，无论是提供weights=[12,12,4]还是cum_weights=[12,24,28]，对于我们所设计的情况都会产生相同的结果，并且后者似乎更快/更有效。

另一种方法是，假设我们的权重与元素数组中的元素的下标相同。

import numpy as np
weights = [0.1, 0.3, 0.5] #weights for the item at index 0,1,2
# sum of weights should be <=1, you can also divide each weight by sum of all weights to standardise it to <=1 constraint.
trials = 1 #number of trials
num_item = 1 #number of items that can be picked in each trial
selected_item_arr = np.random.multinomial(num_item, weights, trials)
# gives number of times an item was selected at a particular index
# this assumes selection with replacement
# one possible output
# selected_item_arr
# array([[0, 0, 1]])
# say if trials = 5, the the possible output could be 
# selected_item_arr
# array([[1, 0, 0],
#   [0, 0, 1],
#   [0, 0, 1],
#   [0, 1, 0],
#   [0, 0, 1]])

现在我们假设，我们要在一次试验中抽取3个项目。你可以假设有三个球R、G、B大量存在，它们的权重由权重数组给定，可能的结果如下:

num_item = 3
trials = 1
selected_item_arr = np.random.multinomial(num_item, weights, trials)
# selected_item_arr can give output like :
# array([[1, 0, 2]])

您还可以将要选择的项目数量视为一组中二项/多项试验的数量。所以，上面的例子仍然可以作为工作

num_binomial_trial = 5
weights = [0.1,0.9] #say an unfair coin weights for H/T
num_experiment_set = 1
selected_item_arr = np.random.multinomial(num_binomial_trial, weights, num_experiment_set)
# possible output
# selected_item_arr
# array([[1, 4]])
# i.e H came 1 time and T came 4 times in 5 binomial trials. And one set contains 5 binomial trails.

如果不介意使用numpy，可以使用numpy.random.choice。

例如:

import numpy

items  = [["item1", 0.2], ["item2", 0.3], ["item3", 0.45], ["item4", 0.05]
elems = [i[0] for i in items]
probs = [i[1] for i in items]

trials = 1000
results = [0] * len(items)
for i in range(trials):
    res = numpy.random.choice(items, p=probs)  #This is where the item is selected!
    results[items.index(res)] += 1
results = [r / float(trials) for r in results]
print "item\texpected\tactual"
for i in range(len(probs)):
    print "%s\t%0.4f\t%0.4f" % (items[i], probs[i], results[i])

如果你知道你需要提前做多少选择，你可以不像这样循环:

numpy.random.choice(items, trials, p=probs)

从版本1.7.0开始，NumPy有一个支持概率分布的选择函数。

from numpy.random import choice
draw = choice(list_of_candidates, number_of_items_to_pick,
              p=probability_distribution)

注意，probability_distribution是一个与list_of_candidate顺序相同的序列。您还可以使用关键字replace=False来更改行为，这样绘制的项就不会被替换。