Random Number Generator

Introduction to Random Number Generators

There are various different methods for generating random numbers, and these methods are called random number generators. The most important characteristic of a random number is that the number it generates after it has no relation to the number before it.

Generating a random number

There is a philosophical question about what exactly “random” is, but its defining characteristic is surely unpredictability. We cannot talk about the unpredictability of a single number, since that number is just what it is, but we can talk about the unpredictability of a series of numbers (number sequence). If a sequence of numbers is random, then you should not be able to predict the next number in the sequence while knowing any part of the sequence so far. Examples for this are found in rolling a fair dice, spinning a well-balanced roulette wheel, drawing balls from a sphere, and the classic flip of a coin. No matter how many dice rolls, coin flips, roulette spins or lottery draws you observe, you do not improve your chances of guessing the next number in the sequence. For those interested in physics the classic example of random movement is the Browning motion of gas or fluid particles.