Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site x.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!bellcore!decvax!genrad!mit-eddie!cybvax0!frog!x!john
From: john@x.UUCP (John Woods)
Newsgroups: net.crypt
Subject: Re: Why no hardware random numbers?
Message-ID: <442@x.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 25-Mar-85 13:18:31 EST
Article-I.D.: x.442
Posted: Mon Mar 25 13:18:31 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 31-Mar-85 03:14:46 EST
References: <868@utcsri.UUCP> <464@lll-crg.ARPA>
Distribution: net
Organization: Charles River Data Systems, Framingham MA
Lines: 18

>GEE,did I discover a new effect with my Monte Carlo program or was the random
>number generator a little off last tuesday.  I can't find out because I can't
> generate the same sequence again.
> 

To quote someone truly famous, "GAAAAAAAAAH!"  Take the hardware random number
generator and dump a few million numbers out to disk.  You have a repeatable
sequence (and if you have good buffering, it might be a faster repeatable
sequence than the RANDU you're probably tempted to use instead).  If this
seems silly to you, check out the Table of 10,000 Random Digits in your
Rubber Bible (you *do* have the CRC Handbook of Mathmatics, don't you?).

A few months back, a talk was given at MIT about 'correcting' biased random
number generators, but I wasn't interested at the time and didn't attend.
Maybe I'll try to dig up someone who knows about it.
-- 
John Woods, Charles River Data Systems, Framingham MA, (617) 626-1101
...!decvax!frog!john, ...!mit-eddie!jfw, jfw%mit-ccc@MIT-XX.ARPA