title: generate N random numbers from a skew normal distribution using numpy
body: <p>I need a function in python to return N random numbers from a skew normal distribution. The skew needs to be taken as a parameter.</p>
  
  <p>e.g. my current use is</p>
  
  <p><code>x = numpy.random.randn(1000)</code></p>
  
  <p>and the ideal function would be e.g.</p>
  
  <p><code>x = randn_skew(1000, skew=0.7)</code></p>
  
  <p>Solution needs to conform with: python version 2.7, numpy v.1.9</p>
  
  <p>A similar answer is here: <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5884768/skew-normal-distribution-in-scipy">skew normal distribution in scipy</a>   However this generates a PDF not the random numbers.</p>