I started so far back that a list of "random numbers" could actually be found to repeat after a while but over the years that list got so long it took another computer to to notice.
I started so far back that a random number generator was new not all computers came with them. Pre PC. Pre internet. If I remember correctly on of the first PCs was found to have a RNG only about 10 thousand numbers long before it started to repeat. It was quickly fixed in the next chip and reprogrammed to cover any repeating
Those same computers, and by the way calculators, also has large number errors. For years some calculators gave different answers to the same problems.
I started so far back that a list of "random numbers" could actually be found to repeat after a while but over the years that list got so long it took another computer to to notice.
I started so far back that a random number generator was new not all computers came with them. Pre PC. Pre internet. If I remember correctly on of the first PCs was found to have a RNG only about 10 thousand numbers long before it started to repeat. It was quickly fixed in the next chip and reprogrammed to cover any repeating
RNGs are, even now, mostly done in software, not hardware. (Of course, back in the old home computer days, the software was often stored in ROM, so couldn't be updated.)
Those same computers, and by the way calculators, also has large number errors. For years some calculators gave different answers to the same problems.
Floating point math is still a potential source of error.
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I started so far back that a list of "random numbers" could actually be found to repeat after a while but over the years that list got so long it took another computer to to notice.
I started so far back that a random number generator was new not all computers came with them. Pre PC. Pre internet. If I remember correctly on of the first PCs was found to have a RNG only about 10 thousand numbers long before it started to repeat. It was quickly fixed in the next chip and reprogrammed to cover any repeating
Those same computers, and by the way calculators, also has large number errors. For years some calculators gave different answers to the same problems.
RNGs are, even now, mostly done in software, not hardware. (Of course, back in the old home computer days, the software was often stored in ROM, so couldn't be updated.)
Floating point math is still a potential source of error.