Verify Law of Large Numbers in MATLAB - matlab

Question

The problem:
If a large number of fair N-sided dice are rolled, the average of the simulated rolls is likely to be close to the mean of 1,2,...N i.e. the expected value of one die. For example, the expected value of a 6-sided die is 3.5.
Given N, simulate 1e8 N-sided dice rolls by creating a vector of 1e8 uniformly distributed random integers. Return the difference between the mean of this vector and the mean of integers from 1 to N.
My code:
function dice_diff = loln(N)
% the mean of integer from 1 to N
A = 1:N
meanN = sum(A)/N;
% I do not have any idea what I am doing here!
V = randi(1e8);
meanvector = V/1e8;
dice_diff = meanvector - meanN;
end

Answer 1

First of all, make sure everytime you ask a question that it is as clear as possible, to make it easier for other users to read.
If you check how randi works, you can see this:
R = randi(IMAX,N) returns an N-by-N matrix containing pseudorandom
integer values drawn from the discrete uniform distribution on 1:IMAX.
randi(IMAX,M,N) or randi(IMAX,[M,N]) returns an M-by-N matrix.
randi(IMAX,M,N,P,...) or randi(IMAX,[M,N,P,...]) returns an
M-by-N-by-P-by-... array. randi(IMAX) returns a scalar.
randi(IMAX,SIZE(A)) returns an array the same size as A.
So, if you want to use randi in your problem, you have to use it like this:
V=randi(N, 1e8,1);
and you need some more changes:
function dice_diff = loln(N)
%the mean of integer from 1 to N
A = 1:N;
meanN = mean(A);
V = randi(N, 1e8,1);
meanvector = mean(V);
dice_diff = meanvector - meanN;
end
For future problems, try using the command
help randi
And matlab will explain how the function randi (or other function) works.
Make sure to check if the code above gives the desired result

Answer 2

As pointed out, take a closer look at the use of randi(). From the general case
X = randi([LowerInt,UpperInt],NumRows,NumColumns); % UpperInt > LowerInt
you can adapt to dice rolling by
Rolls = randi([1 NumSides],NumRolls,NumSamplePaths);
as an example. Exchanging NumRolls and NumSamplePaths will yield Rolls.', or transpose(Rolls).
According to the Law of Large Numbers, the updated sample average after each roll should converge to the true mean, ExpVal (short for expected value), as the number of rolls (trials) increases. Notice that as NumRolls gets larger, the sample mean converges to the true mean. The image below shows this for two sample paths.
To get the sample mean for each number of dice rolls, I used arrayfun() with
CumulativeAvg1 = arrayfun(#(jj)mean(Rolls(1:jj,1)),[1:NumRolls]);
which is equivalent to using the cumulative sum, cumsum(), to get the same result.
CumulativeAvg1 = (cumsum(Rolls(:,1))./(1:NumRolls).'); % equivalent
% MATLAB R2019a
% Create Dice
NumSides = 6; % positive nonzero integer
NumRolls = 200;
NumSamplePaths = 2;
% Roll Dice
Rolls = randi([1 NumSides],NumRolls,NumSamplePaths);
% Output Statistics
ExpVal = mean(1:NumSides);
CumulativeAvg1 = arrayfun(#(jj)mean(Rolls(1:jj,1)),[1:NumRolls]);
CumulativeAvgError1 = CumulativeAvg1 - ExpVal;
CumulativeAvg2 = arrayfun(#(jj)mean(Rolls(1:jj,2)),[1:NumRolls]);
CumulativeAvgError2 = CumulativeAvg2 - ExpVal;
% Plot
figure
subplot(2,1,1), hold on, box on
plot(1:NumRolls,CumulativeAvg1,'b--','LineWidth',1.5,'DisplayName','Sample Path 1')
plot(1:NumRolls,CumulativeAvg2,'r--','LineWidth',1.5,'DisplayName','Sample Path 2')
yline(ExpVal,'k-')
title('Average')
xlabel('Number of Trials')
ylim([1 NumSides])
subplot(2,1,2), hold on, box on
plot(1:NumRolls,CumulativeAvgError1,'b--','LineWidth',1.5,'DisplayName','Sample Path 1')
plot(1:NumRolls,CumulativeAvgError2,'r--','LineWidth',1.5,'DisplayName','Sample Path 2')
yline(0,'k-')
title('Error')
xlabel('Number of Trials')