Randomize matrix in perl, keeping row and column totals the same

I have a matrix that I want to randomize a couple of thousand times, while keeping the row and column totals the same:

An example of a valid random matrix would be:

My actual matrix is a lot bigger (about 600x600 items), so I really need an approach that is computationally efficient.

My initial (inefficient) approach consisted of shuffling arrays using the Perl Cookbook shuffle

I pasted my current code below. I've got extra code in place to start with a new shuffled list of numbers, if no solution is found in the while loop. The algorithm works fine for a small matrix, but as soon as I start scaling up it takes forever to find a random matrix that fits the requirements.

Is there a more efficient way to accomplish what I'm searching for? Thanks a lot!

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;

my %matrix = ( 'A' => {'3'  => 1 },
           'B' => {'1'  => 1,
               '2'  => 1 },
           'C' => {'1'  => 1 }
    );

my @letters = ();
my @numbers = ();

foreach my $letter (keys %matrix){
    foreach my $number (keys %{$matrix{$letter}}){
    push (@letters, $letter);
    push (@numbers, $number);
    }
}

my %random_matrix = ();

&shuffle(\@numbers);
foreach my $letter (@letters){
    while (exists($random_matrix{$letter}{$numbers[0]})){
    &shuffle (\@numbers);
    }
    my $chosen_number = shift (@numbers);
    $random_matrix{$letter}{$chosen_number} = 1;
}

sub shuffle {
    my $array = shift;
    my $i = scalar(@$array);
    my $j;
    foreach my $item (@$array )
    {
        --$i;
        $j = int rand ($i+1);
        next if $i == $j;
        @$array [$i,$j]

1 Answer

The problem with your current algorithm is that you are trying to shuffle your way out of dead ends -- specifically, when your @letters and @numbers arrays (after the initial shuffle of @numbers) yield the same cell more than once. That approach works when the matrix is small, because it doesn't take too many tries to find a viable re-shuffle. However, it's a killer when the lists are big. Even if you could hunt for alternatives more efficiently -- for example, trying permutations rather than random shuffling -- the approach is probably doomed.

Rather than shuffling entire lists, you might tackle the problem by making small modifications to an existing matrix.

For example, let's start with your example matrix (call it M1). Randomly pick one cell to change (say, A1). At this point the matrix is in an illegal state. Our goal will be to fix it in the minimum number of edits -- specifically 3 more edits. You implement these 3 additional edits by "walking" around the matrix, with each repair of a row or column yielding another problem to be solved, until you have walked full circle (err ... full rectangle).

For example, after changing A1 from 0 to 1, there are 3 ways to walk for the next repair: A3, B1, and C1. Let's decide that the 1st edit should fix rows. So we pick A3. On the second edit, we will fix the column, so we have choices: B3 or C3 (say, C3). The final repair offers only one choice (C1), because we need to return to the column of our original edit. The end result is a new, valid matrix.

    Orig         Change A1     Change A3     Change C3     Change C1
    M1                                                     M2

    1 2 3        1 2 3         1 2 3         1 2 3         1 2 3
    -----        -----         -----         -----         -----
A | 0 0 1        1 0 1         1 0 0         1 0 0         1 0 0
B | 1 1 0        1 1 0         1 1 0         1 1 0         1 1 0
C | 1


                        
                        
                            answered 2010-01-26T01:30:00.197

Randomize matrix in perl, keeping row and column totals the same

1 Answer

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