Question

I’ve got a problem I’m not too sure how to solve. I have a 2d space with several points in it. I also have a current point, which is one of the points in the space. I want to randomly select one of the other point, with a higher probability for selection being given to points closer to my current point. I’m working in Java. Any tips would be much appreciated.

Answer 1

1. Assign a “weight” to each point by for instance computing 1 / distanceFromCurrent.

2. Select a point based on these weights.

Solution for the latter part can for instance be found in some of the following answers:

• Weighted random map
• Random value from enum with probability
• Select k random elements from a list whose elements have weights

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Another option would be to use java.util.Random.nextGaussian. Adjust the resulting double so that it represents a reasonable radius, and select the neighboring point closest to this radius.