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Keyword: randomnumbers

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  • The search for the random numbers that run our lives

    07/07/2024 8:37:36 AM PDT · by BenLurkin · 21 replies
    BBC ^ | https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240704-the-search-for-the-random-numbers-that-run-our-lives | Chris Baraniuk
    here are some things that computers, for all their prowess, don't do well – and one of them is randomness. Sure, computers spit out data all the time, why not random numbers? The problem is that computers rely on internal mechanisms that are at some level predictable, meaning the outputs of computer algorithms eventually become predictable, too, which is not what you want if you're running a casino. The same issue can cause headaches for cryptographers. When you encrypt information, you want the keys to the code to be as random as possible, so that no-one can work out how...
  • Can This Black Box See Into the Future? -

    02/12/2005 12:12:42 PM PST · by UnklGene · 168 replies · 3,957+ views
    RedNova ^ | February 11, 2005
    Can This Black Box See Into the Future? - DEEP in the basement of a dusty university library in Edinburgh lies a small black box, roughly the size of two cigarette packets side by side, that churns out random numbers in an endless stream. At first glance it is an unremarkable piece of equipment. Encased in metal, it contains at its heart a microchip no more complex than the ones found in modern pocket calculators. But, according to a growing band of top scientists, this box has quite extraordinary powers. It is, they claim, the 'eye' of a machine that...