# acceptance-Rejection Sampling

### Acceptance-Rejection Sampling - May 14, 2009

Today, we continue the discussion on sampling (generating random numbers) from general distributions with the Acceptance/Rejection Method.

#### Acceptance/Rejection Method

Suppose we wish to sample from a target distribution that is difficult or impossible to sample from directly. Suppose also that we have a proposal distribution from which we have a reasonable method of sampling (e.g. the uniform distribution). Then, if there is a constant , accepting samples drawn in successions from with ratio close to 1 will yield a sample that follows the target distribution ; on the other hand we would reject the samples if the ratio is not close to 1.

The following graph shows the pdf of (target distribution) and (proposal distribution)

At x=7; sampling from will yield a sample that follows the target distribution

At x=9; we will reject samples according to the ratio after sampling from

Proof

Note the following:

• (Bayes' theorem)

So,

Therefore, as required.

Procedure (Continuous Case)

• Choose (a density function that is simple to sample from)
• Find a constant c such that :
1. Let
2. Let
3. If then X=Y; else reject and go to step 1

Example:

Suppose we want to sample from Beta(2,1), for . Recall:

• Choose
• Find c: c = 2 (see notes below)
1. Let
2. Let
3. If , then X=Y; else go to step 1

was chosen to be 2 in this example since in this example is 2. This condition is important since it helps us in finding a suitable to apply the Acceptance/Rejection Method.

In MATLAB, the code that demonstrates the result of this example is:

   j = 1;
while i < 1000
y = rand;
u = rand;
if u <= y
x(j) = y;
j = j + 1;
i = i + 1;
end
end
hist(x);



The histogram produced here should follow the target distribution, , for the interval .

The histogram shows the PDF of a Beta(2,1) distribution as expected.

The Discrete Case

The Acceptance/Rejection Method can be extended for discrete target distributions. The difference compared to the continuous case is that the proposal distribution must also be discrete distribution. For our purposes, we can consider g(x) to be a discrete uniform distribution on the set of values that X may take on in the target distribution.

Example

Suppose we want to sample from a distribution with the following probability mass function (pmf):

P(X=1) = 0.15
P(X=2) = 0.55
P(X=3) = 0.20
P(X=4) = 0.10

• Choose to be the discrete uniform distribution on the set
• Find c:
1. Generate
2. Let
3. If , then X=Y; else go to step 1

Limitations

If the proposed distribution is very different from the target distribution, we may have to reject a large number of points before a good sample size of the target distribution can be established. It may also be difficult to find such that satisfies all the conditions of the procedure.

We will now begin to discuss sampling from specific distributions.

#### Special Technique for sampling from Gamma Distribution

Recall that the cdf of the Gamma distribution is:

If we wish to sample from this distribution, it will be difficult for both the Inverse Method (difficulty in computing the inverse function) and the Acceptance/Rejection Method.