Re: question about random generator

Antonio wrote:
> pete wrote:
> > Does "pseudo-random" mean the same thing as "uniformly distributed" ?
>
> Completely OT, but anyway... No, pseudo-random means that it looks like
> it's random but it really isn't. There is no way to generate trully
> random numbers with a computer, everything you do is deterministic, but
> you can generate sequences that look like they're random but that
> aren't. Hence the term _pseudo_-random.

Yes, we know, you didn't say anything that wasn't completely obvious.
The C Standard specifies that rand() generates pseudo-random numbers,
the questions is whether a conforming implementation could generate a
series of normal distributed numbers via the rand() function or if the
term pseudo-random implies that the numbers must be generated with a
uniform distribution. I was wondering the same thing myself, I think
the intention is that the numbers be uniform but that may be debatable.

Robert Gamble

.

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