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Is there a way to generate a uniformly distributed point on a sphere from a fixed amount of random real numbers?



The 2019 Stack Overflow Developer Survey Results Are InHow to find a random axis or unit vector in 3D?Picking random points in the volume of sphere with uniform probabilityIs a sphere a closed set?Random Point Sampling From a Set with Certain GeometryHow to Create a Plane Inside A CubeAlgorithm to generate random points in n-Sphere?Sampling on Axis-Aligned Spherical QuadRandom 3D points uniformly distributed on an ellipse shaped window of a sphereCompensating for distortion when projecting a 2D texture onto a sphereFind the relative radial position of a point within an ellipsoid












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$begingroup$


The obvious solution of Lattitude & Longitude doesn't work because it generates points more densely near the poles, and the other thing I came up with (Pick a random point in the unit cube, if it's in the sphere map it to the surface, and restart if it's outside) doesn't always find a point within a fixed number of tries.






geometry







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$endgroup$












  • $begingroup$
    So what you want is a uniform distribution. It would be helpful to state this explicitly.
    $endgroup$
    – robjohn♦
    3 hours ago






  • 1




    $begingroup$
    Distribute longitude uniformly and the sine of the latitude uniformly. Then the distribution of points on the sphere will be uniform.
    $endgroup$
    – robjohn♦
    3 hours ago










  • $begingroup$
    @robjohn thank you, you're right that I forgot to specify that.
    $endgroup$
    – The Zach Man
    45 mins ago
















3












$begingroup$


The obvious solution of Lattitude & Longitude doesn't work because it generates points more densely near the poles, and the other thing I came up with (Pick a random point in the unit cube, if it's in the sphere map it to the surface, and restart if it's outside) doesn't always find a point within a fixed number of tries.






geometry







share|cite|improve this question











$endgroup$












  • $begingroup$
    So what you want is a uniform distribution. It would be helpful to state this explicitly.
    $endgroup$
    – robjohn♦
    3 hours ago






  • 1




    $begingroup$
    Distribute longitude uniformly and the sine of the latitude uniformly. Then the distribution of points on the sphere will be uniform.
    $endgroup$
    – robjohn♦
    3 hours ago










  • $begingroup$
    @robjohn thank you, you're right that I forgot to specify that.
    $endgroup$
    – The Zach Man
    45 mins ago














3












3








3


1



$begingroup$


The obvious solution of Lattitude & Longitude doesn't work because it generates points more densely near the poles, and the other thing I came up with (Pick a random point in the unit cube, if it's in the sphere map it to the surface, and restart if it's outside) doesn't always find a point within a fixed number of tries.






geometry







share|cite|improve this question











$endgroup$




The obvious solution of Lattitude & Longitude doesn't work because it generates points more densely near the poles, and the other thing I came up with (Pick a random point in the unit cube, if it's in the sphere map it to the surface, and restart if it's outside) doesn't always find a point within a fixed number of tries.






geometry




geometry






share|cite|improve this question















share|cite|improve this question













share|cite|improve this question




share|cite|improve this question








edited 26 mins ago









robjohn♦

271k27313642




271k27313642










asked 3 hours ago









The Zach ManThe Zach Man

1057




1057












  • $begingroup$
    So what you want is a uniform distribution. It would be helpful to state this explicitly.
    $endgroup$
    – robjohn♦
    3 hours ago






  • 1




    $begingroup$
    Distribute longitude uniformly and the sine of the latitude uniformly. Then the distribution of points on the sphere will be uniform.
    $endgroup$
    – robjohn♦
    3 hours ago










  • $begingroup$
    @robjohn thank you, you're right that I forgot to specify that.
    $endgroup$
    – The Zach Man
    45 mins ago


















  • $begingroup$
    So what you want is a uniform distribution. It would be helpful to state this explicitly.
    $endgroup$
    – robjohn♦
    3 hours ago






  • 1




    $begingroup$
    Distribute longitude uniformly and the sine of the latitude uniformly. Then the distribution of points on the sphere will be uniform.
    $endgroup$
    – robjohn♦
    3 hours ago










  • $begingroup$
    @robjohn thank you, you're right that I forgot to specify that.
    $endgroup$
    – The Zach Man
    45 mins ago
















$begingroup$
So what you want is a uniform distribution. It would be helpful to state this explicitly.
$endgroup$
– robjohn♦
3 hours ago




$begingroup$
So what you want is a uniform distribution. It would be helpful to state this explicitly.
$endgroup$
– robjohn♦
3 hours ago




1




1




$begingroup$
Distribute longitude uniformly and the sine of the latitude uniformly. Then the distribution of points on the sphere will be uniform.
$endgroup$
– robjohn♦
3 hours ago




$begingroup$
Distribute longitude uniformly and the sine of the latitude uniformly. Then the distribution of points on the sphere will be uniform.
$endgroup$
– robjohn♦
3 hours ago












$begingroup$
@robjohn thank you, you're right that I forgot to specify that.
$endgroup$
– The Zach Man
45 mins ago




$begingroup$
@robjohn thank you, you're right that I forgot to specify that.
$endgroup$
– The Zach Man
45 mins ago










2 Answers
2






active

oldest

votes


















4












$begingroup$

The Lambert cylindrical equal area projection maps the sphere to a cylinder, area to equal area. It is easy to generate a uniform distribution on a cylinder. Simply map it back to the sphere.



For $(u_1,u_2)$ uniform on $[0,1]^2$, either



$mathrm{lat}=arcsin(2u_1-1),mathrm{lon}=2pi u_2$



or



$z=2u_1-1,x=sqrt{1-z^2}cos(2pi u_2),y=sqrt{1-z^2}sin(2pi u_2)$






share|cite|improve this answer









$endgroup$





















    3












    $begingroup$

    Your method, even though it doesn't finish in a fixed number of times, is a reasonable way to do it. Each trial succeeds with probability $fracpi6$, which is better than $frac12$: the average number of trials is less than $2$.



    Another standard method is to use the normal distribution. Generate $x, y, z$ independently from a standard normal distribution, then take the point $(x,y,z)$ and divide it by $sqrt{x^2+y^2+z^2}$ as you did for points inside the cube. The multivariate normal distribution is rotationally symmetric, so this will get you evenly distributed points on the sphere.



    (The Box–Muller transform is one way to generate normally distributed random numbers, and some versions of it do not use rejection sampling, so they can be done with a "fixed amount" of randomness.)






    share|cite|improve this answer









    $endgroup$














      Your Answer





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      2 Answers
      2






      active

      oldest

      votes








      2 Answers
      2






      active

      oldest

      votes









      active

      oldest

      votes






      active

      oldest

      votes









      4












      $begingroup$

      The Lambert cylindrical equal area projection maps the sphere to a cylinder, area to equal area. It is easy to generate a uniform distribution on a cylinder. Simply map it back to the sphere.



      For $(u_1,u_2)$ uniform on $[0,1]^2$, either



      $mathrm{lat}=arcsin(2u_1-1),mathrm{lon}=2pi u_2$



      or



      $z=2u_1-1,x=sqrt{1-z^2}cos(2pi u_2),y=sqrt{1-z^2}sin(2pi u_2)$






      share|cite|improve this answer









      $endgroup$


















        4












        $begingroup$

        The Lambert cylindrical equal area projection maps the sphere to a cylinder, area to equal area. It is easy to generate a uniform distribution on a cylinder. Simply map it back to the sphere.



        For $(u_1,u_2)$ uniform on $[0,1]^2$, either



        $mathrm{lat}=arcsin(2u_1-1),mathrm{lon}=2pi u_2$



        or



        $z=2u_1-1,x=sqrt{1-z^2}cos(2pi u_2),y=sqrt{1-z^2}sin(2pi u_2)$






        share|cite|improve this answer









        $endgroup$
















          4












          4








          4





          $begingroup$

          The Lambert cylindrical equal area projection maps the sphere to a cylinder, area to equal area. It is easy to generate a uniform distribution on a cylinder. Simply map it back to the sphere.



          For $(u_1,u_2)$ uniform on $[0,1]^2$, either



          $mathrm{lat}=arcsin(2u_1-1),mathrm{lon}=2pi u_2$



          or



          $z=2u_1-1,x=sqrt{1-z^2}cos(2pi u_2),y=sqrt{1-z^2}sin(2pi u_2)$






          share|cite|improve this answer









          $endgroup$



          The Lambert cylindrical equal area projection maps the sphere to a cylinder, area to equal area. It is easy to generate a uniform distribution on a cylinder. Simply map it back to the sphere.



          For $(u_1,u_2)$ uniform on $[0,1]^2$, either



          $mathrm{lat}=arcsin(2u_1-1),mathrm{lon}=2pi u_2$



          or



          $z=2u_1-1,x=sqrt{1-z^2}cos(2pi u_2),y=sqrt{1-z^2}sin(2pi u_2)$







          share|cite|improve this answer












          share|cite|improve this answer



          share|cite|improve this answer










          answered 1 hour ago









          robjohn♦robjohn

          271k27313642




          271k27313642























              3












              $begingroup$

              Your method, even though it doesn't finish in a fixed number of times, is a reasonable way to do it. Each trial succeeds with probability $fracpi6$, which is better than $frac12$: the average number of trials is less than $2$.



              Another standard method is to use the normal distribution. Generate $x, y, z$ independently from a standard normal distribution, then take the point $(x,y,z)$ and divide it by $sqrt{x^2+y^2+z^2}$ as you did for points inside the cube. The multivariate normal distribution is rotationally symmetric, so this will get you evenly distributed points on the sphere.



              (The Box–Muller transform is one way to generate normally distributed random numbers, and some versions of it do not use rejection sampling, so they can be done with a "fixed amount" of randomness.)






              share|cite|improve this answer









              $endgroup$


















                3












                $begingroup$

                Your method, even though it doesn't finish in a fixed number of times, is a reasonable way to do it. Each trial succeeds with probability $fracpi6$, which is better than $frac12$: the average number of trials is less than $2$.



                Another standard method is to use the normal distribution. Generate $x, y, z$ independently from a standard normal distribution, then take the point $(x,y,z)$ and divide it by $sqrt{x^2+y^2+z^2}$ as you did for points inside the cube. The multivariate normal distribution is rotationally symmetric, so this will get you evenly distributed points on the sphere.



                (The Box–Muller transform is one way to generate normally distributed random numbers, and some versions of it do not use rejection sampling, so they can be done with a "fixed amount" of randomness.)






                share|cite|improve this answer









                $endgroup$
















                  3












                  3








                  3





                  $begingroup$

                  Your method, even though it doesn't finish in a fixed number of times, is a reasonable way to do it. Each trial succeeds with probability $fracpi6$, which is better than $frac12$: the average number of trials is less than $2$.



                  Another standard method is to use the normal distribution. Generate $x, y, z$ independently from a standard normal distribution, then take the point $(x,y,z)$ and divide it by $sqrt{x^2+y^2+z^2}$ as you did for points inside the cube. The multivariate normal distribution is rotationally symmetric, so this will get you evenly distributed points on the sphere.



                  (The Box–Muller transform is one way to generate normally distributed random numbers, and some versions of it do not use rejection sampling, so they can be done with a "fixed amount" of randomness.)






                  share|cite|improve this answer









                  $endgroup$



                  Your method, even though it doesn't finish in a fixed number of times, is a reasonable way to do it. Each trial succeeds with probability $fracpi6$, which is better than $frac12$: the average number of trials is less than $2$.



                  Another standard method is to use the normal distribution. Generate $x, y, z$ independently from a standard normal distribution, then take the point $(x,y,z)$ and divide it by $sqrt{x^2+y^2+z^2}$ as you did for points inside the cube. The multivariate normal distribution is rotationally symmetric, so this will get you evenly distributed points on the sphere.



                  (The Box–Muller transform is one way to generate normally distributed random numbers, and some versions of it do not use rejection sampling, so they can be done with a "fixed amount" of randomness.)







                  share|cite|improve this answer












                  share|cite|improve this answer



                  share|cite|improve this answer










                  answered 3 hours ago









                  Misha LavrovMisha Lavrov

                  49k757107




                  49k757107






























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