Methods of Reducing Sample Size in Monte Carlo Computations

H. Kahn and A. W. Marshall
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H. Kahn: The Rand Corporation, Santa Monica, California
A. W. Marshall: The Rand Corporation, Santa Monica, California

Operations Research, 1953, vol. 1, issue 5, 263-278

Abstract: This paper deals with the problem of increasing the efficiency of Monte Carlo calculations. The methods of doing so permit one to reduce the sample size required to produce estimates of a fixed level of accuracy or, alternatively, to increase the accuracy of the estimates for a fixed cost of computation. Few theorems are known with regard to optimal sampling schemes, but several helpful ideas of very general applicability are available for use in designing Monte Carlo sampling schemes. Three of these ideas are discussed and illustrated in simple cases. These ideas are (1) correlation of samples, (2) importance sampling, and (3) statistical estimation. Operations Research , ISSN 0030-364X, was published as Journal of the Operations Research Society of America from 1952 to 1955 under ISSN 0096-3984.

Date: 1953
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