Weighted choices

[Antoon Pardon]

Op 09-09-13 02:21, Dennis Lee Bieber schreef:
> On Sun, 08 Sep 2013 19:48:55 +0200, Antoon Pardon
> <antoon.pardon at rece.vub.ac.be> declaimed the following:
> 
>> Op 08-09-13 04:12, Jason Friedman schreef:
>>> choices = dict()
>>> choices["apple"] = 10
>>> choices["pear"] = 20
>>> choices["banana"] = 15
>>> choices["orange"] = 25
>>> choices["kiwi"] = 30
>>>
>>> I want to pick sets of fruit, three in a set, where the chance of
>>> selecting a given fruit is proportional to its weight.  In the example
>>> above, pears should appear twice as often as apples and kiwis should
>>> appear twice as often as bananas.
>>
>> Just a small question. Is a set of three bananas an acceptable outcome?
> 
> 	If we are talking probabilities, regardless of what the weighting is,
> it should be probable (if unlikely) to get three-of-a-kind.

Why should that be? I'm unfamiliar with any kind of imperative that
discourages people from wanting sets with three different kinds of
fruit.

-- 
Antoon Pardon