On Thu, Apr 23, 2009 at 1:05 AM, Nicholas Thompson < nickthomp...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> > Can anybody help me understand this. (Please try to say something more > helpful than the well-deserved, "Well, why do you THINK they call it > pseudo-random, you dummy?")What DOES a pseudo randomizing program look like? > > > This one is called a linear congruential generator: x[i+1] = (a * x[i] + b) modulo m x[i] is the current random number, x[i+1] is the next random number, for appropriate choice of a, b and m the sequence of numbers produced will go through all the numbers from 0 to m-1 in some order over and over again. The choice of a = 1, b = 1 enumerates in increasing order, and the choice of a = 1, b = -1 enumerates in decreasing order. Neither is a very good choice, but they aren't the only bad choices. For instance, a = 0 is probably the worst choice of linear congruential multiplier. You might try out different values for a and b in a spreadsheet with m = 17. Or just do it on paper. -- rec --
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