A truly random number is something that is surprisingly difficult to generate. A typical approach is to generate the required element of chance from a natural and unpredictable source, such as radi… ...

It’s surprisingly difficult to come up with a truly random sequence of numbers or items. Doing so requires cognitive skills such as memory and attention, as well as a sense of complexity.

Pseudo-random number generators are algorithms that use mathematical formulae to produce sequences of numbers. These sequences are deterministic: they are predicted by the algorithm.

In the Swiss experiment, the camera was used to create a 1.25 Gbit/s stream of random numbers. One worry about any random-number generator is that the numbers could be influenced in a predictable way ...

How can you generate random bits? Some people think it’s not easy, others will tell you that it’s pretty damn hard, and then there are those who wonder if it is possible at all. Of course, it… ...

It’s a ridiculously easy sequence to make, and yet it fooled programs designed to root out underlying order in seemingly random numbers. David Gawen Champernowne was born in 1912.

So if the number n is prime, it is slightly more likely that n + 2 will be prime than random chance would suggest. The k -tuple conjecture quantifies this observation in a general statement that ...

Take the sequence 0.142, 0.566, 0.274, 0.265,..., which is created by the equation xn = {πn 2}, where the curly brackets mean we ignore the integer part of that number. So the first number is π ...

Quantum systems are inherently random, so they offer a way to generate random numbers. In this episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast, our guest is Ramy Shelbaya who is who is chief executive ...

Any random sequence of events, such as the lapping of ocean waves on the shore, can become a clock – and physicists have now devised a mathematical procedure for making such an odd timepiece and ...