On Friday 16 May 2008 03:29:28 pm paul at clubi.ie wrote:
> > This is pure wishful thinking. You are saying that if _you_ cannot
> > work out what the next number is, because the system is so
> > complicated, then the sequence must be random.
> >
> > You are much, much better off with a mathematical function f(n) mod
> > m which people have studied, and found no patterns in the output.
>> So an RNG based on study and understanding of the physical world is
> "wishful thinking", but based on periodic functions, that's fine.
> (RANDU?).
>> This sounds like domain snobbery to me. ;)
f(n) mod m is not necessarily (or even usually) periodic.
Anybody who pays real money for a black box
that is supposed to output random numbers through quantum theory
is very gullible, in my view.
It is one thing to understand quantum mechanics,
and quite another to construct a device that uses it.
You might as well say that if you understand thermodynamics
you can construct an efficient car engine.
Ps Do you know about quantum entanglement?
--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail: gayleard /at/ eircom.net
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland
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