Python: How to make a variable true 40% of the time

Question

What would be the best approach for the following...

In a Django I have a view with a variable called 'showItem' which could be true or false. I want to set showItem to true 40% of the time and false 60% of the time, with options to change these odds later on.

Using Python how should I go about this?

Part of view:

 def get_context_data(self, **kwargs):
        context = super(EntryDetail, self).get_context_data(**kwargs)
        context['showItem'] = (odds?????)
        return context

Try `random.randrange(100) > 40` (http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14324472/random-boolean-by-percentage). — alecxe, Aug 07 '13 at 08:12

score 6 · Answer 1 · 2013-08-07T08:39:11.520

6

Here is another method:

import random

cur_num   = random.random()
threshold = 0.4

# showItem is true 60 % of the time
showItem = cur_num >= threshold

If you choose to change the threshold value later, you can just modify the threshold variable which is easier than the other methods listed.

edited Aug 07 '13 at 08:39

answered Aug 07 '13 at 08:18

Chien-Wei Huang · Accepted Answer · 2013-08-07T09:30:08.000

2

import random
num = random.randint(0, 4)
context['showItem'] = True if num <= 1 else False

Here I think @Xaranke's answer is better and more flexible. I also test the performance of random and randint on my laptop, the former is 10x faster.

edited Aug 07 '13 at 09:30

answered Aug 07 '13 at 08:15

Chien-Wei Huang

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nice import random is perfect. – GrantU Aug 07 '13 at 08:18
He said he wants to change the odds later on. – Aug 07 '13 at 08:20
Oh, didn't see that orz. – Chien-Wei Huang Aug 07 '13 at 09:04

Python: How to make a variable true 40% of the time

2 Answers2