Smaller than milliseconds?

Nelson Zink zink at newmex.com
Thu Jul 10 23:21:00 EDT 2003


J/,

> If you're looking for a random number generator you should check out "a
> new kind of science" by stephen wolfram.

Wolfram's Rule 30 thing is great at producing a string of random digits, but
what we need is a random seed. What we need is the finger that points out
the section of Wolfram's string to use. The digits of Pi are random so we
could do the same thing with a huge file of Pi digits. We still need the
finger. 

The whole deal with RNGs used for security purposes isn't about having
random digits, it about my picking a certain group of the digits and you not
being able to guess which group I chose. We're talkin' encryption.

------------
Dar,

> But do you have any reason to believe the processor clock and the long
> seconds clock are not the same?

Generally no, but strictly? I suppose I do. My long seconds are being
displayed to 20 magnitudes of precision (with proper numberFormat
adjustment). Either an alien technology has taken up residence in my machine
or something's screwy. I'm betting on the later.

Nelson




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