Random Numbers

Here are some random numbers between 0 and 100:

69 64 12 6 73 42 43 65 61 16 77 87 86 65 42 35 100 76 65 47 67 45 3 93 38

I’m not sure what to do with them either but they were generated by a quantum process and hence are truly random. Most “random numbers” are generated by a computer and hence are only pseudo-random. Although this sounds like a frivolous distinction, generating true random numbers is actually quite difficult and getting them right can be important for testing all kinds of scientific theories as well as for doing simulations and numerical integration via Monte Carlo methods.

You can get your own quantum generated random numbers here.

Hat tip to Michael Statsny and his excellent blog Mahalanobis.

Addendum: Patrick Livingood points me here where you can get “4.8 billion random bits, in sixty 10-megabyte files. They were produced by a combination of several of the best deterministic random number generators (RNG’s), together with three sources of white noise, as well as black noise (from a rap music digital recording). My intent is to provide an unassailable source for those who absolutely positively have to have a large, reliable set of random numbers for serious simulation (Monte Carlo) studies.”

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