Introduction

Python has a built-inrandom library that provides various functions for performing stochastic operations. In this chapter, we'll explore some of the most commonly used functions in therandom library, including generating random numbers, making random choices, and shuffling sequences.

Generating Random Numbers

Several functions are available to generaterandom numbers, includingrandom,uniform,randint, andrandrange. Here's an example of using these functions to generate random numbers representing the roll of a die and the toss of a coin:

importrandom# Generate a random integer between two valuesmin_die=1max_die=6die_roll=random.randint(a=min_die,b=max_die)print(f"Die roll:{die_roll}")

Output:Die roll: 4

# Generate a random choice from a sequencecoin_toss=random.choice(seq=["heads","tails"])print(f"Coin toss:{coin_toss}")

Output:Coin toss: tails

Making Random Choices

Thechoice andchoices functions are available to make random selections from a sequence. Here's an example of using these functions to randomly select a card from a deck of cards:

importrandomcards=["Ace","2","3","4","5","6","7","8","9","10","Jack","Queen","King"]# Make a random choice from a sequencecard=random.choice(seq=cards)print(f"Randomly selected card:{card}")

Output:Randomly selected card: 7

# Make multiple random choices from a sequencenum_choices=5cards=random.choices(population=cards,k=num_choices)print(f"Randomly selected cards:{cards}")

Output:Randomly selected cards: ['Queen', '3', 'King', '9', '8']

Shuffling Sequences

Theshuffle function is available to shuffle a sequence in place randomly. Here's an example of using theshuffle function to randomly shuffle a list of cards:

importrandomcards=["Ace","2","3","4","5","6","7","8","9","10","Jack","Queen","King"]# Shuffle a sequence in placerandom.shuffle(x=cards)print(f"Shuffled cards:{cards}")

Output:Shuffled cards: ['3', 'Queen', '8', '2', 'King', 'Jack', 'Ace', '9', '6', '7', '10', '5', '4']

Conclusion

Whether you're simulating a game of chance or generating random data for a machine-learning model, therandom library is an essential tool for any Python programmer.