st: random pick from a custom distribution

["daniel waxman" <dan@amplecat.com>]

This should be an easy question:

I have generated an empiric frequency distribution, using -contract-, such
that I have two variables-- the variable of interest (hour of the day that a
patient is discharged from the hospital), and the cumulative frequency of
from a set of empiric observations.  

How can I generate a function which picks random hours in a frequency
proportional to this distribution?

Thanks.



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