Tuesday 5 October 2010

Half way through Random Number Generators

Here is what I have so far:
"One day, I was sitting in my maths class fiddling with my calculator when I came across a button called Ran#. I realised that if I typed in a number and pressed this button, the calculator would randomly produce a number between zero and the number that I typed. But how could this be? Calculators use algorithms to perform functions so does this mean that there is an algorithm to produce random numbers? If so, random must not exists because the fact that there is an algorithm to produce a random sequence completely undermines the concept of randomness.

After some research, I came across a website called Random.org which claimed to be a “True Random Number Service”. The website discussed how computer and calculator programs use “pseudorandom number generators” which is less effective than this website because they use the randomness from “atmospheric noise”. Wikipedia defines atmospheric noise as “radio noise caused by natural atmospheric processes, primarily lightning discharges in thunderstorms”. Pseudorandom number generators are algorithms that are not entirely random but produce a set of numbers that pass all tests for randomness. So, there are certain properties that a sequence must have for it to be random. The fact that people are aware of this and it is possible to create sequences that could be classed as random shows that although one cannot predict a random sequence, a sequence can be made that is identified as random.

American mathematician Robert R. Coveyou stated that “The generation of random numbers is too important to be left to chance.” This is an incredibly intriguing quote. "

I'm finding it very difficult to word things well in this section. Also, I'm not too sure of the message that I actually what to get across in this section. I have all the quotes and sources but what do I actually want to acheive?
Anyway, as I keep saying, HOPEFULLY this will be finished soon. I have a meeting with my supervisor in about half an hour so will blog about how that goes soon.

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