Automatic sampling with the ratio-of-uniforms method

Abstract

Applying the ratio-of-uniforms method for generating random variates results in very efficient, fast, and easy-to-implement algorithms. However parameters for every particular type of density must be precalculated analytically. In this article we show, that the ratio-of-uniforms method is also useful for the design of a black-box algorithm suitable for a large class of distributions, including all with log-concave densities. Using polygonal envelopes and squeezes results in an algorithm that is extremely fast. In opposition to any other ratio-of-uniforms algorithm the expected number of uniform random numbers is less than two. Furthermore, we show that this method is in some sense equivalent to transformed density rejection.