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Random number generation is a process by which, often by means of a random number generator (RNG), a sequence of numbers or symbols that cannot be reasonably predicted better than by random chance is generated. This means that the particular outcome sequence will contain some patterns detectable in hindsight but impossible to foresee.
These approaches combine a pseudo-random number generator (often in the form of a block or stream cipher) with an external source of randomness (e.g., mouse movements, delay between keyboard presses etc.). /dev/random – Unix-like systems; CryptGenRandom – Microsoft Windows; Fortuna
Random numbers are frequently used in algorithms such as Knuth's 1964-developed algorithm [1] 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.
If one has a pseudo-random number generator whose output is "sufficiently difficult" to predict, one can generate true random numbers to use as the initial value (i.e., the seed), and then use the pseudo-random number generator to produce numbers for use in cryptographic applications.
It can be shown that if is a pseudo-random number generator for the uniform distribution on (,) and if is the CDF of some given probability distribution , then is a pseudo-random number generator for , where : (,) is the percentile of , i.e. ():= {: ()}. Intuitively, an arbitrary distribution can be simulated from a simulation of the standard ...
Many "random number generators" in use today are defined by algorithms, and so are actually pseudo-random number generators. The sequences they produce are called pseudo-random sequences. These generators do not always generate sequences which are sufficiently random, but instead can produce sequences which contain patterns.
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A USB-pluggable hardware true random number generator. In computing, a hardware random number generator (HRNG), true random number generator (TRNG), non-deterministic random bit generator (NRBG), [1] or physical random number generator [2] [3] is a device that generates random numbers from a physical process capable of producing entropy (in other words, the device always has access to a ...