Creating mock data with natural decreasing numbers - r

Question

I want to create random mock data looks like this.
__ID__|__Amount__
1 20
1 14
1 9
1 3
2 11
2 5
2 2
Starting from the random number but the second number with the same ID should be lesser than the first one, and the third number has to be lesser than the second one. Maximum number to start should be 20.

Answer 1

you can just create the data first and then sort it as you need, using tidyverse :
set.seed(0)
df <- data.frame(id = rep(1:3,10), amt = sample(1:20, 30, replace = TRUE))
df %>%
group_by(id) %>%
arrange(id, desc(amt))

Answer 2

This is a tricky one if you want the Amount column to be truly random values you can use a recursive call that will use sample recursively:
## Recursively sampling from a uniform distribution
recursive.sample <- function(start, end, length, results = NA, counter =0) {
## To enter the recursion, counter must be smaller than the length out
## and the last result must be smaller than the starting point (except the firs time)
if(counter < length && ifelse(counter != 0, results[counter] > start, TRUE)){
## Increment the counter
counter <- counter + 1
## Sample between start and the last result or the start and the end of the vector
results[counter] <- ifelse(counter != 1, sample(start:results[counter-1], 1), sample(start:end, 1))
## Recursive call
return(recursive.sample(start = start, end = end, length = length, results = results, counter = counter))
} else {
## Exit the recursion
return(results)
}
}
## Example
set.seed(0)
recursive.sample(start = 1, end = 20, length = 3, results = NA, counter = 0)
#[1] 18 5 2
Alternatively (and way easier) you can use sort(sample()):
set.seed(0)
sort(sample(1:20, 3), decreasing = TRUE)
#[1] 18 7 6
Note that the results differ due to the lower probability of sampling higher values in the recursive function.
You can then easily create your table with your chosen function as follow:
set.seed(123)
## The ID column
ID <- c(rep(1, 4), rep(2,3))
## The Amount column
Amount <- c(recursive.sample(1, 20, 4, NA, 0), recursive.sample(1, 11, 3, NA, 0))
## The table
cbind(ID, Amount)
# ID Amount
#[1,] 1 18
#[2,] 1 5
#[3,] 1 2
#[4,] 1 2
#[5,] 2 10
#[6,] 2 3
#[7,] 2 3
Or, again, with the simple sort(sample()) function for a higher probability of picking larger numbers.

Answer 3

Two methods, one using dplyr and one using only base R functions. These are slightly different to the two previous solutions.
I used sorted ID column, but this is not necessary.
Method 1
rm(list = ls())
set.seed(1)
df <- data.frame(ID = rep(1:3, each = 5))
df %>% group_by(ID) %>%
mutate(Amount = sort(sample(1 : 20, n(), replace = T), decreasing = TRUE))
Method 2
rm(list = ls())
set.seed(1)
df <- data.frame(ID = rep(1:3, each = 5))
df$Amount <- NA
uniq_ID <- unique(df$ID)
index_lst <- lapply(uniq_ID, function(x) which(df$ID == x))
res <- lapply(index_lst, function(x) sort(sample(1 : 20, length(x)),
decreasing = TRUE))
df$Amount[unlist(index_lst)] <- unlist(res)
Method 2.5
This is more convoluted than the 2nd method.
rm(list = ls())
set.seed(1)
df <- data.frame(ID = rep(1:3, each = 5))
df$Amount <- NA
tab <- as.data.frame(table(df$ID))
lapply(1 : nrow(tab), function(x) df$Amount[which(df$ID == tab$Var1[x])] <<-
sort(sample(1 : 20, tab$Freq[x]), decreasing = TRUE))