Re: number generator

At 07:17 AM 3/9/2007, cesco wrote:
On Mar 9, 3:51 pm, Paul Rubin <http://phr...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> "cesco" <fd.calabr...@xxxxxxxxx> writes:
> > I have to generate a list of N random numbers (integer) whose sum is
> > equal to M. If, for example, I have to generate 5 random numbers whose
> > sum is 50 a possible solution could be [3, 11, 7, 22, 7]. Is there a
> > simple pattern or function in Python to accomplish that?
>
> Erm, yes, lots of ways, there are probably further constraints on the
> problem, such as the size of the integers, how the lists are supposed
> to be distributed, etc. Can you be more specific? Is this for an
> application? If it's a homework problem, that's fine, but it's better
> in that case for respondents to suggest hints rather than full solutions.

Given two positive integers, N and M with N < M, I have to generate N
positive integers such that sum(N)=M. No more constraints.

So why not just repeatedly call a function to generate lists of length N of random integers within the appropriate range (the closed interval [1,M-N-1]), and return the first list the sum of which is M? I don't understand what all the discussion is about. Time is not one of the constraints.

*** Moores

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