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Random number

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Dice are an example of a mechanical hardware random number generator. When a cubical die is rolled, a random number from 1 to 6 is obtained.

A random number is generated by a random (stochastic) process such as throwing Dice. Individual numbers can't be predicted, but the likely result of generating a large quantity of numbers can be predicted by specific mathematical series and statistics.

Algorithms and implementations

Random numbers are frequently used in algorithms such as Knuth's 1964-developed algorithm for shuffling lists. (popularly known as the Knuth shuffle or the Fisher–Yates shuffle, based on work they did in 1938).

In 1999, a new feature was added to the Pentium III: a hardware-based random number generator. It has been described as "several oscillators combine their outputs and that odd waveform is sampled asynchronously." These numbers, however, were only 32 bit, at a time when export controls were on 56 bits and higher, so they were not state of the art.

Common understanding

In common understanding, "1 2 3 4 5" is not as random as "3 5 2 1 4" and certainly not as random as "47 88 1 32 41" but "we can't say authoritavely that the first sequence is not random ... it could have been generated by chance."

When a police officer claims to have done a "random .. door-to-door" search, there is a certain expectation that members of a jury will have.

Real world consequences

Flaws in randomness have real-world consequences.

A 99.8% randomness was shown by researchers to negatively affect an estimated 27,000 customers of a large service and that the problem was not limited to just that situation.

See also

References

  1. Richard Durstenfeld (July 1964). "Algorithm 235: Random permutation". Communications of the ACM. 7 (7): 420. doi:10.1145/364520.364540.
  2. Robert Moscowitz (July 12, 1999). "Privacy's Random Nature". Network Computing.
  3. "Hardwiring Security". Wired. January 1999.
  4. Terry Ritter (January 21, 1999). "The Pentium III RNG".
  5. "Unpredictable Randomness Definition". IRISA.
  6. Jonathan Knudson (January 1998). "Javatalk: Horseshoes, hand grenades and random numbers". Sun Server. pp. 16–17.
  7. Tom Hays (April 16, 1995). "NYPD Bad Cop's Illegal Search Mars Career". Los Angeles Times.
  8. A pre-compiled list of apartment numbers would be a violation thereof.
  9. ^ John Markoff (February 14, 2012). "Flaw Found in an Online Encryption Method". New York Times.
  10. Reid Forgrave (May 3, 2018). "The man who cracked the lottery". New York Times.
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