True Random Number Generator Goes Online

amigoro writes "A 'true' random number generator that relies on the unpredictable quantum process of photon emission has gone online providing academic and scientific community access to true random numbers free of charge."

Wow!

[Anonymous Coward]

..BZT, qvq nalbar frr gung gb ertvfgre lbh unir
gb fbyir n zngu ceboyrz yvxr:

    qrevingvir bs (5*fva 3k +6pbf(-cv/2))

Avpr!

Urer vf n qverpg yvax gb gur trarengbe, lbh pna
qbjaybnq gur pyvrag sebz urer nf jryy:

uggc://enaqbz.veo.ue/

DEnaq Pbzznaq-yvar Hgvyvgl [i0.2, 2007-07-17]
Abgr 1: Pbzcvyrf haqre Ivfhny Fghqvb naq t++.
Abgr 2: Jvaqbjf rkrphgnoyr vapyhqrq.
Abgr 3: TAH Yvahk rkrphgnoyr vapyhqrq.

455FE10422CA29C4933F95052B792AB2

[ferrellcat]

Hey! It works!

Wait...

[Icarus1919]

Why do I keep getting 42?

Erm..

[Creepy Crawler]

Does anybody have a mirror?

It keeps changing on me!

Re:Don't misunderstand

[Urusai]

Finally, something to make the OLPC useful.

Finally an improved software estimate methodology

[JurassicPizza]

I've been waiting on this for a long time.

Re:455FE10422CA29C4933F95052B792AB2

[Filter]

Step 1: 455FE10422CA29C4933F95052B792AB2
Step 2: ?
Step 3: Profit!!!

already discovered

[d3l33t]

int getRandomNumber(){ return 4; //chosen by fair dice roll //guarantees to be random }

Re:455FE10422CA29C4933F95052B792AB2

[qweqwe321]

Oh yeah? I got 09F911029D74E35BD84156C5635688C0!

Weird...

[patternmatch]

I keep getting 09f911029d74e35bd84156c5635688c0...

Re:Other sources of true random numbers

[ArsonSmith]

I'm a source too, and the first 5 are free:

45
7
183
33
23

send me $100 for each addition random number.

ok bonus day

44

Re:Wait...

[theantipop]

I don't know, but that's pretty improbable.

Re:Captchas require calculus

[stinerman]

I got the partial derivative of cos(4x) wrt x evaluated at 0. That's pretty trivial. You could guess at that and do well.

Re:Wow!

[MillionthMonkey]

..OMG, did anyone see that to register you have to solve a math problem like:

derivative of (5*sin 3x +6cos(-pi/2))

7h15 15 345y. 6 * (05(-p1/2) = z3r0), 50 7h3 4n5w3r 15 ju57 15 * (05(3x).

|\/|y m07h3r (0u|d h4v3 d1ff3r3n71473d 7h47.

Re:455FE10422CA29C4933F95052B792AB2

[ari_j]

Thanks! Now, to put it to good use:

uint128_t rand() {
/* This number is guaranteed to be random. See http://random.irb.hr/ for details. */
return 0x455fe10422ca29c4933f95052b792ab2;
}

Re:quantum random number generators

[Rakishi]

You probably don't want to do that for a computer simulation running at a few ghz thou.

That's what grad students are for.

Re:Wait...

[Puff of Logic]

I don't know, but that's pretty improbable.

Nonsense. Million-to-one chances occur nine times out of ten!

Re:Wow!

[Shadow Wrought]

Nah, he's just the millionth one. The first 999,999 turned up crap. All 1,000,001 could come up with was, "It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times..."

Sources of not so random numbers

[MrSquishy]

Apathy:
Use 123, what does it matter anyway.

XKCD - Guaranteed to be Random

[TZapper]

http://xkcd.com/c221.html [xkcd.com]

Re:Only God

[DamnStupidElf]

[Only God] can generate "truly" random numbers.

Oh yeah? Being omniscient, wouldn't he know what number he'd generate before he generated it? Not too random, is it?

Re:Wait...

[DarkAxi0m]

25.52% of all statistics are made up on the spot but only 45.23% of the time.

Re:Here's what I do

[slickwillie]

I just checksum my Windows registry.

It's random enough for my purposes.

Re:Wait...

[SmurfButcher Bob]

75% of all pie charts resemble Pac-Man.

Obligatory Dilbert Comic

[Anonymous Coward]

http://web.archive.org/web/20011027002011/http://d ilbert.com/comics/dilbert/archive/images/dilbert20 01182781025.gif [archive.org]

[Tour of Accounting]
Accounting Troll: "Over here we have our random number generator"

Number Generator Troll: "Nine Nine Nine Nine Nine Nine"

Dilbert: "Are you sure that's random?"

Accounting Troll: "That's the problem with randomness: you can never be sure"

Re:Other sources of true random numbers

[Kidbro]

More sources of true randomness:

- Reasons for women to get upset
- Promises from politicians
- Patent applications
- Marketing terminology

Re:Wait...

[snickkers]

The closest we'll get to proof that Shakespeare wasn't a monkey.

Re:Wait...

[voxel]

Well, mathematically given an infinite amount of time you could receive the number 42 from a random number generator an infinite number of times.

Given an infinite amount of time, the Windows 95 source code could be spewed out perfectly in sequence from a true random number generator.

Too bad we won't live that long, because we all know how bad-ass the Win95 source code is.

Web 2.0? monkeys!!

[myowntrueself]

As Kittel and Kroemer put it, "The probability of Hamlet is therefore zero in any operational sense of an event...", and the statement that the monkeys must eventually succeed "gives a misleading conclusion about very, very large numbers."

So in other words there really is *no* hope that web 2.0 will actually produce anything truly outstanding?

I got FC5052B792AB2455FE10422CA29C4933

[Joce640k]

My number's bigger than your number...

Re:Wait...

[Bluesman]

>my cat just traipsed on my keyboard and typed "dsafhhrnvcdbqwtrwqerwe897509k;ln b,.cnjhcvdsytwejbhd"

I've read that one, it sucked. The butler did it and they catch him in the end.

Your cat should have typed Hamlet.

Re:wonky definition of pseudo-random

[jdray]

So, what is so hard about generating "truly random" numbers in a computer? I would think that a fairly simple grabbing of arbitrary chunks of memory and using the bytes as floats would produce something that's truly random. So long as your selection method for the bytes was sufficiently arbitrary, there should be no opportunity for pattern development. What am I missing?

Re:Wait...

[E++99]

Actually, a random number generator isn't really random unless it is possible for it to generate the number 42 a thousand times in a row...

However, if you get a 1,001st 42, chances are it's just broken.

Re:Wait...

[Nazlfrag]

Silly statisticians miss the point. Why do all portrayals of the great bard have him bearded? Monkeys were often used as assistants and servants hundreds of years ago, why not use one as a scriptwriter? How else do you explain all the strange spelling and random line breaks? History proves Shakespeare was a monkey without a shadow of a doubt, regardless of silly mathematicians trying to compare the immortal poet, or any other monkey at a typewriter with random numbers. A chimpanzee shares 99.7% of our DNA, yet we call them random number generators? Pseudoscientific quackery at its worst.

Re:Wow!

[Anonymous Coward]

Too bad that's only ROT13: Not really the hardest of encryptions to crack.

Yeah, that's why I always apply it twice for extra security.

Re:Wow!

[AmiAthena]

I'm sure my mom would be proud if I told her that I'm lost on the math, but I read that in one pass with no problem. *sigh*

Re:Wait...

[g0dsp33d]

Besides, he made up half the words he used. :)

From a hardcore role player.

[bestiarosa]

Quick! Throw out those twenty-sided dice. That is the ultimate role playing tool!

Game master: Well done! You've struck the dragon for 455FE10422CA29C4933F95052B792AB2 hit points with your enchanted sword! Too bad it's awake now and spits acid at you all, inflicting 09F911029D74E35BD84156C5635688C0 hit points! You still get half the damage if you roll more than 784A3827BC4832A2982FE3223C009821 with the quantum dice!

Geeks rejoice

[Trent Hawkins]

Geeks rejoice - now you can prove that was a natural 20!

Apparently it is a quantum signup form too

[rk]

Because I got this:

"Quantum Random Bit Generator Service: Sign up failed
Congratulations! You have successfully registered for QRBG Service.

Now, you can log in and check your quota and usage statistics, or just start using the Service."

I guess I have to stuff a cat in a box to see if my account actually works now.