C# Normal Random Number [duplicate]

Question

I would like to create a function that accepts Double mean, Double deviation and returns a random number with a normal distribution.

Example: if I pass in 5.00 as the mean and 2.00 as the deviation, 68% of the time I will get a number between 3.00 and 7.00

My statistics is a little weak…. Anyone have an idea how I should approach this? My implementation will be C# 2.0 but feel free to answer in your language of choice as long as the math functions are standard.

I think this might actually be what I am looking for. Any help converting this to code?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Answer 1

See this CodeProject article: Simple Random Number Generation. The code is very short, and it generates samples from uniform, normal, and exponential distributions.

Answer 2

You might be interested in Math.NET, specifically the Numerics package.

Caveat: The numerics package targets .NET 3.5. You may need to use the Iridium package if you are targeting an earlier version...