I am attempting to make a randomly generated plot using the LCG method. While the plot behavior works, my issue is when I attempt to return a list to a variable. My goal is to have the recursive function return a list to a variable, but it seems that it does nothing when it exits the definition.
Recursive Function (inside definition):
def LCG_recursive(vmin, vmax):
for x in range(0, 1):
randnum = 19680801 # Fixing random state for reproducibility
randnum2 = [] # clearing list for next random set
break
for x in range(1, i+1):
randnum = ((a*randnum+b) % M) / M
randres = (vmax - vmin)*randnum + vmin #limit to range of plot
randnum2.append(randres)
if x>i:
return randnum2
Called From:
# For each set of style and range settings, plot i random points in the box
# defined [23, 32], y in [0, 100], z in [zlow, zhigh].
for m, zlow, zhigh in [('o', -50, -25), ('^', -30, -5)]:
xs = LCG_recursive(23, 32)
ys = LCG_recursive(0, 100)
zs = LCG_recursive(zlow, zhigh)
ax.scatter(xs, ys, zs, marker=m)
My attempt was to set the seed as randnum and clear randnum2 for every retrieval of a randomly generated list of values. However, attempting to step through the file shows that it performs the recursion successfully, but returns a NoneType object when it moves to the next axis list.
I attempted to create global variables and check to see if I could move randnum2 after I performed the recursive operation, but I haven't gotten any luck.
It actually ended up needing a break statement to force it outside of the second range before it would let me return any values. I did note the removal of the unnecessary for loop for the first few lines. Here is what I came up with:
def LCG_calc(vmin, vmax):
randnum = 19680801 # Fixing random state for reproducibility
randnum2 = [] # clearing list for next random set
for x in range(0, n):
randnum = (a*randnum+b) % M
randnum = randnum /M
randres = (vmax - vmin)*randnum + vmin #limit to range of plot
randnum2.append(randres)
if x>n:
break
return randnum2