Mail Archives: djgpp/1998/03/24/18:00:44
Francois Charton <deef AT pobox DOT oleane DOT com> wrote:
> Salvador Eduardo Tropea (SET) wrote:
> >
> > I wrote:
> >
> > > I really doubt that such an AD system would produce a desirably random
> > > series of numbers, ie a series which pass classical tests for randomness.
> > > Has anyone tries it?
> >
> > Are you kidding! The noise generated in a diode junction IS NOISE and is
> > generated by the combination of electrones, if you can predict it ... man
> > you'll gain the next 100 Nobel prices ;-))).
>
>
> Probably. But unpredictable does not mean random. Many phenomena known as
> "noisy" or "chaotic", though absolutely unpredictable, still can show
> intrinsic correlations which disqualify them as random sources. If I
> remember correctly, Knuth even quotes the example of time between blips
> on a Geiger counter (quantic noise, right?) as one of a *bad* RNG... In
> mathematics, the series of primes is a well known example of non
> predictable series (ie there is no formula giving the value of the next
> one from that of the previous), however, it is known to possess many
> statistical characteristics which do not make it predictable, but ruins
> it as a "random" series.
>
> Randomness is a pure mathematical concept. The only way to know whether a
> series is random or not is to test it. Hence my question: has anyone
> tried to test such a "natural noise series" to classical tests for random
> numbers (Knuth's spectral test for instance)? It would be a good way to
> know whether such natural noise sources make good RNG or not (but again,
> I suspect the latter).
I never runned a test over the values.
SET
------------------------------------ 0 --------------------------------
Visit my home page: http://set-soft.home.ml.org/
or
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Vista/6552/
Salvador Eduardo Tropea (SET). (Electronics Engineer)
Alternative e-mail: set-soft AT usa DOT net set AT computer DOT org
CQ: 2951574
Address: Curapaligue 2124, Caseros, 3 de Febrero
Buenos Aires, (1678), ARGENTINA
TE: +(541) 759 0013
- Raw text -