pseudorandom number

pseudorandom number

(programming)One of a sequence of numbers generated by somealgorithm so as to have an even distribution over some rangeof values and minimal correlation between successivevalues.

Pseudorandom numbers are used in simulation andencryption. They are pseudorandom not random because thesequence eventually repeats exactly and is entirely determinedby the initial conditions.

One of the simplest algorithms is

x[i+1] = (a * x[i] + c) mod m

but this repeats after at most m numbers and successivenumbers are closely related. Better algorithms generally usemore previous numbers to calculate the next number.

http://random.mat.sbg.ac.at/.