I have to implement an algorithm for a raffle. The problem is that i would like that some of the participant to have more chances, because they have more points. How can i do that? I thounght to simply put them many times in the raffle, but doesn't seems legit. Do you know any algorithms that can do that?
Thanks
Pseudo algorithm:
winnerTicket <- a random number between zero and sum ticket count - 1
currentTicket <- 0
For each participant in participants ordered by id
If winnerTicket - currentTicket > participant.ticketCount
currentTicket += participant.ticketCount
Else
return participant
Why wouldn't that be "legit". If you base your amount of chance on a number of points, you add the person for X times in the raffle based on his points. That person's chance increase.
I would solve it in this way.
You have a mapping: participant => number of chances. In many programming languages you can declare a mapping or dictionary like this:
{"player1": 2, "player2": 5, ... many more like these}
so you can iterate like this:
accumulatedMap = {} #an empty map
total = 0
for each pair of key:count in the mapping:
total = total + count
accumulatedMap[key] = total
#now, get random and calculate
element = random between 1 and total, inclusive.
for each pair of key:accumulated in the mapping:
if element <= accumulated:
return key
#at this point, in the worst case the last key was returned.
This code is just an example. Remember that mappings don't always keep an insertion order when iterating.
