Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watnot!watmath!clyde!rutgers!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!tektronix!reed!mdr From: mdr@reed.UUCP Newsgroups: sci.math,sci.physics,sci.crypt,sci.math.stat Subject: Re: Do you use RANDOM NUMBERS? Message-ID: <5857@reed.UUCP> Date: Thu, 2-Apr-87 14:17:12 EST Article-I.D.: reed.5857 Posted: Thu Apr 2 14:17:12 1987 Date-Received: Sat, 4-Apr-87 18:33:15 EST References: <5712@reed.UUCP> Organization: Reed College, Portland OR Lines: 23 Keywords: Random numbers, leprechauns Xref: utgpu sci.math:823 sci.physics:1025 sci.crypt:277 sci.math.stat:91 In my original posting I asked: >How do people currently use RANDOM NUMBERS? Simulations? Anything else? >How do you generate them? I've been getting lots of notes from people asking why I don't know about Knuth's Seminumerical Algorithms. Thank you for those notes, and I do have the book. My intention was to ask How do **you** generate the random numbers that *you* use? Answers I expected and got were similar to: "I use RANDU" or "I use D&D dice" or "I use the spatial distribution of tea leaves in an empty cup XORed with activity counts from decaying cobalt" Mike ps. Shame on you all - How could you possibly misinterpret my ambiguous language?? -- Reed College -- Portland, Oregon -- 503/774-9192