Discrete Event Simulation for Health Technology Assessment

75Implementation

sampling assures no systematic distortion, but the degree of accuracy in

representing the full distribution also depends on the number of selections

made from the distribution. As the number of selections increases, the accu-

racy improves. For example, with only 10 draws, the result may be 6males

and 4females, quite different from the underlying distribution, whereas with

1,000draws it will come much closer to 450males and 550females.

This process can be seen graphically in Figure3.5, where random selection

of a number from the range 0to 100gave the number 23. This number, 23, is

then found on the vertical axis of the ...