\(\text{LogNormalVariate}\)

You can use the \(\text{LogNormalVariate}\) function to calculate one or more random variates in a log-normal distribution.

You can use the \lognormalv backslash command to insert this function.

The following variants of this function are available:

  • \(\text{real } \text{LogNormalVariate} \left ( \text{<}\mu\text{>} \right )\)

  • \(\text{real } \text{LogNormalVariate} \left ( \text{<}\mu\text{>}, \text{<}\sigma\text{>} \right )\)

  • \(\text{real matrix } \text{LogNormalVariate} \left ( \text{<number rows>}, \text{<number columns>}, \text{<}\mu\text{>} \right )\)

  • \(\text{real matrix } \text{LogNormalVariate} \left ( \text{<number rows>}, \text{<number columns>}, \text{<}\mu\text{>}, \text{<}\sigma\text{>} \right )\)

Where \(x\), \(\mu\), and \(\sigma\) are scalar values representing the value of interest, the mean value and the standard deviation. If not specified, the mean value will be 0 and the standard deviation will be 1. Note that this function is defined over the range \(x > 0\) and \(\sigma > 0\). The \(\text{LogNormalVariate}\) function will generate a runtime error or return NaN or a matrix of NaN for values for which the function is not defined.

The one and two parameter versions of the \(\text{LogNormalVariate}\) function will return a single random variate in a log normal distribution. The three and four parameter versions of the \(\text{LogNormalVariate}\) function will return a real matrix of random variates in a log normal distribution. The \(\text{<number rows>}\) and \(\text{<number columns>}\) specify the size of the desired matrix.

The \(\text{LogNormalVariate}\) uses Marsaglia’s polar method [5] to calculate random variates in a normal distribution. The \(\text{LogNormalVariate}\) function then simply calculates \(e ^ x\) for each term. The matrix version of the \(\text{LogNormalVariate}\) function has been optimized to rapidly produce a large number of simultaneous normal random variates and SIMD instructions are used to calculate \(e ^ x\) on multiple terms simultaneously.

Figure 177 shows the basic use of the \(\text{LogNormalVariate}\) function.

../_images/log_normal_variate_example.png

Figure 177 Example Use Of The LogNormalVariate Function