Banded matrix with random entries

Question

What is the optimal way to get banded matrices with random entries in LaTeX? By random, I mean the following: It should give me different entries after every compilation.

Answer 1

You could use any random number generator function. Here is an example of the one using the one built in pgf:

Code:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{pgf}


\newcommand{\Rand}{\pgfmathparse{random(100)}\pgfmathresult}%

\newcommand{\NewMatrix}{%
\begin{bmatrix}
  \Rand & 0     & 0       \\
  0     & \Rand &  0      \\
  0     & 0     & \Rand 0 \\
\end{bmatrix}
}%

\begin{document}
$\NewMatrix$, $\NewMatrix$, $\NewMatrix$
\end{document}

Answer 2

Taking the cue from Peter, here is the code I wrote to generate a random matrix and a random banded matrix.

$$\NewMatrix{m}{n}$$ produces a matrix of size m by n.

$$\BandMatrix{m}{n}{b}$$produces a matrix of size m by n with bandwidth b.

Code:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{forloop}
\usepackage{pgf}
\usepackage{ifthen}

\newcommand{\Rand}{\pgfmathparse{random(10)}\pgfmathresult}%

\newcounter{row_number}
\newcounter{col_number}
\newcounter{band}

\newcommand{\NewMatrix}[2]{%
\begin{bmatrix}
  \forloop{row_number}{1}{\value{row_number} < #1}{%%
    \forloop{col_number}{1}{\value{col_number} < #2}{%%%
        \Rand & 
    }%%%
    \Rand
    \\
  }%%
  \forloop{col_number}{1}{\value{col_number} < #2}{%%%%
        \Rand & 
    }%%%%
    \Rand
\end{bmatrix}
}%

\newcommand{\BandMatrix}[3]{%
\begin{bmatrix}
  \forloop{row_number}{1}{\value{row_number} < #1}{%%
    \forloop{col_number}{1}{\value{col_number} < #2}{%%%
        \ifthenelse{\value{col_number} < \numexpr\value{row_number} + #3 + 1 \and \value{col_number} > \numexpr\value{row_number} - #3 - 1}{\Rand &}{0 &}
    }%%%
    \ifthenelse{\value{col_number} < \numexpr\value{row_number} + #3 + 1 \and \value{col_number} > \numexpr\value{row_number} - #3 - 1}{\Rand \\}{0 \\}
  }%%
  \forloop{col_number}{1}{\value{col_number} < #2}{%%%%
        \ifthenelse{\value{col_number} < \numexpr\value{row_number} + #3 + 1 \and \value{col_number} > \numexpr\value{row_number} - #3 - 1}{\Rand &}{0 &}
    }%%%%
    \ifthenelse{\value{col_number} < \numexpr\value{row_number} + #3 + 1 \and \value{col_number} > \numexpr\value{row_number} - #3 - 1}{\Rand}{0}
\end{bmatrix}
}%

\begin{document}
$$\NewMatrix{11}{4}$$
$$\BandMatrix{10}{8}{3}$$
\end{document}