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A Convenient Algorithm for Drawing a Simple Random Sample
Author(s) -
McLeod A. I.,
Bellhouse D. R.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
journal of the royal statistical society: series c (applied statistics)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.205
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1467-9876
pISSN - 0035-9254
DOI - 10.2307/2347297
Subject(s) - simple (philosophy) , algorithm , computer science , sample (material) , mathematics , philosophy , chemistry , epistemology , chromatography
SUMMARY A convenient one‐pass algorithm for drawing a simple random sample without replacement of size n from a population of N members, when N is initially unknown, is presented. Moreover, even when N is known, this algorithm appears to be more efficient than previously suggested algorithms when the entire population is stored in the fast memory of the computer. Applications to sampling from a computer file and to linear programming are briefly indicated.