Inverse transformation sampling takes uniform samples of a number between 0 and 1, interpreted as a probability, and then returns the smallest number such that for the cumulative distribution function of a random variable. For example, imagine that is the standard normal distribution with mean zero and standard deviation one. The table below shows samples taken from the uniform distribution and their representation on the standard normal distribution.
We are randomly choosing a proportion of the area under the curve and returning the number in the domain such that exactly this proportion of the area occurs to the left of that number. Intuitively, we are unlikely to choose a number in the far end of tails because there is very little area in them which would require choosing a number very close to zero or one.
Computationally, this method involves computing the quantile function of the distribution — in other words, computing the cumulative distribution function (CDF) of the distribution (which maps a number in the domain to a probability between 0 and 1) and then inverting that function. This is the source of the term "inverse" or "inversion" in most of the names for this method. Note that for a discrete distribution, computing the CDF is not in general too difficult: we simply add up the individual probabilities for the various points of the distribution. For a continuous distribution, however, we need to integrate the probability density function (PDF) of the distribution, which is impossible to do analytically for most distributions (including the normal distribution). As a result, this method may be computationally inefficient for many distributions and other methods are preferred; however, it is a useful method for building more generally applicable samplers such as those based on rejection sampling.
For the normal distribution, the lack of an analytical expression for the corresponding quantile function means that other methods (e.g. the Box–Muller transform) may be preferred computationally. It is often the case that, even for simple distributions, the inverse transform sampling method can be improved on:[1] see, for example, the ziggurat algorithm and rejection sampling. On the other hand, it is possible to approximate the quantile function of the normal distribution extremely accurately using moderate-degree polynomials, and in fact the method of doing this is fast enough that inversion sampling is now the default method for sampling from a normal distribution in the statistical package R.[2]
For any random variableFailed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle X }
on Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \mathbb R}
, the random variable Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle F_X^{-1}(U)}
has the same distribution as Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle X}
, where Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle F_X^{-1}}
is the generalized inverse of the cumulative distribution functionFailed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle F_X}
of Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle X}
and Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle U}
is uniform on Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle [0,1]}
.[3]
For continuous random variables, the inverse probability integral transform is indeed the inverse of the probability integral transform, which states that for a continuous random variableFailed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle X}
with cumulative distribution functionFailed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle F_X}
, the random variable Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle U=F_X(X)}
is uniform on Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle [0,1]}
.
File:InverseFunc.pngGraph of the inversion technique from Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle x}
to Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle F(x)}
. On the bottom right we see the regular function and in the top left its inversion.
From Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle U \sim \mathrm{Unif}[0,1]}
, we want to generate Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle X}
with CDFFailed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle F_X(x).}
We assume Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle F_X(x)}
to be a continuous, strictly increasing function, which provides good intuition.
We want to see if we can find some strictly monotone transformation Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle T:[0,1]\mapsto \mathbb{R}}
, such that Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle T(U)\overset{d}{=}X}
. We will have
Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle F_X(x)=\Pr(X\leq x)=\Pr(T(U)\leq x) = \Pr(U\leq T^{-1}(x))=T^{-1}(x), \text{ for } x\in \mathbb{R},}
where the last step used that Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \Pr(U \leq y) = y}
when Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle U}
is uniform on Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle [0,1]}
.
So we got Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle F_X}
to be the inverse function of Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle T }
, or, equivalently Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle T(u)=F_X^{-1}(u), u\in [0,1]. }
Therefore, we can generate Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle X }
from Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle F_X^{-1}(U). }
File:Generalized inversion method.svgSchematic of the inverse transform sampling. The inverse function of Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle y=F_X(x)}
can be defined by Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle F_X^{-1}(y)=\mathrm{inf}\{x| F_X(x)\geq y\}}
.File:Inverse Transform Sampling Example.gifAn animation of how inverse transform sampling generates normally distributed random values from uniformly distributed random values
The problem that the inverse transform sampling method solves is as follows:
Let Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle X}
be a random variable whose distribution can be described by the cumulative distribution functionFailed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle F_X}
.
We want to generate values of Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle X}
which are distributed according to this distribution.
The inverse transform sampling method works as follows:
Generate a random numberFailed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle u}
from the standard uniform distribution in the interval Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle [0,1]}
, i.e. from Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle U \sim \mathrm{Unif}[0,1].}
Find the generalized inverse of the desired CDF, i.e. Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle F_X^{-1}(u)}
.
Compute Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle X'(u)=F_X^{-1}(u)}
. The computed random variable Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle X'(U)}
has distribution Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle F_X}
and thereby the same law as Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle X}
.
Expressed differently, given a cumulative distribution function Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle F_X}
and a uniform variable Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle U\in[0,1]}
, the random variable Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle X = F_X^{-1}(U)}
has the distribution Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle F_X}
.[3]
In the continuous case, a treatment of such inverse functions as objects satisfying differential equations can be given.[4] Some such differential equations admit explicit power series solutions, despite their non-linearity.[5]
As an example, suppose we have a random variable Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle U \sim \mathrm{Unif}(0,1)}
and a cumulative distribution function
Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \begin{align} F(x)=1-\exp(-\sqrt{x}) \end{align} }
In order to perform an inversion we want to solve for Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle F(F^{-1}(u))=u}
Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \begin{align} F(F^{-1}(u))&=u \\ 1-\exp\left(-\sqrt{F^{-1}(u)}\right) &= u \\ F^{-1}(u) &= (-\log(1-u))^2 \\ &= (\log(1-u))^2 \end{align} }
From here we would perform steps one, two and three.
As another example, we use the exponential distribution with Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle F_X(x)=1-e^{-\lambda x}}
for x ≥ 0 (and 0 otherwise). By solving y=F(x) we obtain the inverse function
Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle x = F^{-1}(y) = -\frac{1}{\lambda}\ln(1-y).}
It means that if we draw some Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle y_0}
from a Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle U \sim \mathrm{Unif}(0,1)}
and compute Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle x_0 = F_X^{-1}(y_0) = -\frac{1}{\lambda}\ln(1-y_0),}
This Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle x_0}
has exponential distribution.
The idea is illustrated in the following graph:
File:Inverse transformation method for exponential distribution.jpgRandom numbers yi are generated from a uniform distribution between 0 and 1, i.e. Y ~ U(0, 1). They are sketched as colored points on the y-axis. Each of the points is mapped according to x=F−1(y), which is shown with gray arrows for two example points. In this example, we have used an exponential distribution. Hence, for x ≥ 0, the probability density is Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \varrho_X(x) = \lambda e^{-\lambda \, x}}
and the cumulative distribution function is Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle F(x) = 1 - e^{-\lambda \, x}}
. Therefore, Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle x = F^{-1}(y) = - \frac{\ln(1-y)}{\lambda}}
. We can see that using this method, many points end up close to 0 and only few points end up having high x-values - just as it is expected for an exponential distribution.
Note that the distribution does not change if we start with 1-y instead of y. For computational purposes, it therefore suffices to generate random numbers y in [0, 1] and then simply calculate
Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle x = F^{-1}(y) = -\frac{1}{\lambda}\ln(y).}
Let Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle F}
be a cumulative distribution function, and let Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle F^{-1}}
be its generalized inverse function (using the infimum because CDFs are weakly monotonic and right-continuous):[6]
Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle F^{-1}(u) = \inf\;\{x \mid F(x)\geq u\} \qquad (0<u<1).}
Claim: If Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle U}
is a uniform random variable on Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle [0,1]}
then Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle F^{-1}(U)}
has Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle F}
as its CDF.
Proof:
Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \begin{align} & \Pr(F^{-1}(U) \leq x) \\ & {} = \Pr(U \leq F(x)) \quad &(F\text{ is right-continuous, so }\{u:F^{-1}(u)\le x\}=\{u:u\le F(x)\}) \\ & {} = F(x) \quad &(\text{because }\Pr(U \leq u) = u,\text{ when } U \text{ is uniform on }[0,1]) \\ \end{align} }
Inverse transform sampling can be simply extended to cases of truncated distributions on the interval Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle (a,b]}
without the cost of rejection sampling: the same algorithm can be followed, but instead of generating a random number Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle u}
uniformly distributed between 0 and 1, generate Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle u}
uniformly distributed between Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle F(a)}
and Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle F(b)}
, and then again take Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle F^{-1}(u)}
.
In order to obtain a large number of samples, one needs to perform the same number of inversions of the distribution.
One possible way to reduce the number of inversions while obtaining a large number of samples is the application of the so-called Stochastic Collocation Monte Carlo sampler (SCMC sampler) within a polynomial chaos expansion framework. This allows us to generate any number of Monte Carlo samples with only a few inversions of the original distribution with independent samples of a variable for which the inversions are analytically available, for example the standard normal variable.[7]
There are software implementations available for applying the inverse sampling method by using numerical approximations of the inverse in the case that it is not available in closed form. For example, an approximation of the inverse can be computed if the user provides some information about the distributions such as the PDF [8] or the CDF.
↑ 3.03.1McNeil, Alexander J.; Frey, Rüdiger; Embrechts, Paul (2005). Quantitative risk management. Princeton Series in Finance. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. p. 186. ISBN0-691-12255-5.
↑Steinbrecher, György; Shaw, William T. (19 March 2008). "Quantile mechanics". European Journal of Applied Mathematics. 19 (2): 87–112. doi:10.1017/S0956792508007341. S2CID6899308.
↑L.A. Grzelak, J.A.S. Witteveen, M. Suarez, and C.W. Oosterlee. The stochastic collocation Monte Carlo sampler: Highly efficient sampling from “expensive” distributions. https://ssrn.com/abstract=2529691
↑
Baumgarten, Christoph; Patel, Tirth (2022). "Automatic random variate generation in Python". Proceedings of the 21st Python in Science Conference. pp. 46–51. doi:10.25080/majora-212e5952-007.
