std::exponential_distribution

C++

Language

Headers

Freestanding and hosted implementations

Named requirements

Language support library

Concepts library (C++20)

Diagnostics library

Utilities library

Strings library

Containers library

Algorithms library

Iterators library

Numerics library

Input/output library

Localizations library

Regular expressions library (C++11)

Atomic operations library (C++11)

Thread support library (C++11)

Filesystem library (C++17)

Technical Specifications

Numerics library

Common mathematical functions

Special mathematical functions

Floating-point environment (C++11)

Complex numbers

Numeric arrays

Pseudo-random number generation

Compile-time rational arithmetic (C++11)

Numeric algorithms

gcd (C++17)

lcm (C++17)

Generic numeric operations

iota (C++11)

accumulate

inner_product

adjacent_difference

partial_sum

reduce (C++17)

transform_reduce (C++17)

inclusive_scan (C++17)

exclusive_scan (C++17)

transform_inclusive_scan (C++17)

transform_exclusive_scan (C++17)

Bit operations

bit_cast (C++20)

ispow2 (C++20)

ceil2 (C++20)

floor2 (C++20)

log2p1 (C++20)

Pseudo-random number generation

Uniform random bit generators

UniformRandomBitGenerator (C++20)

Engines and engine adaptors

linear_congruential_engine (C++11)

mersenne_twister_engine (C++11)

subtract_with_carry_engine (C++11)

discard_block_engine (C++11)

independent_bits_engine (C++11)

shuffle_order_engine (C++11)

Non-deterministic generator

random_device (C++11)

Distributions

Uniform distributions

uniform_int_distribution (C++11)

uniform_real_distribution (C++11)

generate_canonical (C++11)

Bernoulli distributions

bernoulli_distribution (C++11)

binomial_distribution (C++11)

negative_binomial_distribution (C++11)

geometric_distribution (C++11)

Poisson distributions

poisson_distribution (C++11)

exponential_distribution (C++11)

gamma_distribution (C++11)

weibull_distribution (C++11)

extreme_value_distribution (C++11)

Normal distributions

normal_distribution (C++11)

lognormal_distribution (C++11)

chi_squared_distribution (C++11)

cauchy_distribution (C++11)

fisher_f_distribution (C++11)

student_t_distribution (C++11)

Sampling distributions

discrete_distribution (C++11)

piecewise_constant_distribution (C++11)

piecewise_linear_distribution (C++11)

Seed Sequences

seed_seq (C++11)

C library

rand

srand

RAND_MAX

std::exponential_distribution

Member functions

exponential_distribution::exponential_distribution

exponential_distribution::reset

Generation

exponential_distribution::operator()

Characteristics

exponential_distribution::lambda

exponential_distribution::param

exponential_distribution::min

exponential_distribution::max

Non-member functions

operator==operator!=

operator<<operator>>

Defined in header <random>
template< class RealType = double > class exponential_distribution;		(since C++11)

Produces random non-negative floating-point values x, distributed according to probability density function:

P(x|) = e-x

The value obtained is the time/distance until the next random event if random events occur at constant rate per unit of time/distance. For example, this distribution describes the time between the clicks of a Geiger counter or the distance between point mutations in a DNA strand.

This is the continuous counterpart of std::geometric_distribution

std::exponential_distribution satisfies RandomNumberDistribution

Template parameters

RealType

-

The result type generated by the generator. The effect is undefined if this is not one of float, double, or long double.

Member types

Member type	Definition
result_type	RealType
param_type	the type of the parameter set, see RandomNumberDistribution.

Member functions

(constructor)	constructs new distribution (public member function)
reset	resets the internal state of the distribution (public member function)
Generation
operator()	generates the next random number in the distribution (public member function)
Characteristics
lambda	returns the lambda distribution parameter (rate of events) (public member function)
param	gets or sets the distribution parameter object (public member function)
min	returns the minimum potentially generated value (public member function)
max	returns the maximum potentially generated value (public member function)

Non-member functions

operator==operator!=	compares two distribution objects (function)
operator<<operator>>	performs stream input and output on pseudo-random number distribution (function template)

Notes

Some implementations may occasionally return infinity if RealType is float. This is LWG issue 2524

Example

Run this code

#include <iostream>
#include <iomanip>
#include <string>
#include <map>
#include <random>
int main()
{
    std::random_device rd;
    std::mt19937 gen(rd());

    // if particles decay once per second on average,
    // how much time, in seconds, until the next one?
    std::exponential_distribution<> d(1);

    std::map<int, int> hist;
    for(int n=0; n<10000; ++n) {
        ++hist[2*d(gen)];
    }
    for(auto p : hist) {
        std::cout << std::fixed << std::setprecision(1) 
                  << p.first/2.0 << '-' << (p.first+1)/2.0 <<
                ' ' << std::string(p.second/200, '*') << '\n';
    }
}

Possible output:

0.0-0.5 *******************
0.5-1.0 ***********
1.0-1.5 *******
1.5-2.0 ****
2.0-2.5 **
2.5-3.0 *
3.0-3.5 
3.5-4.0

External links

Weisstein, Eric W. "Exponential Distribution." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource.