Sounds easy but probably isn't. I'll start by giving you the answer I think you are after. Look up the uniform, normal and other distributions and you will see that each distribution has a random number generator functions of those distributions.
But what's wrong with your question is you don't specify how random you need your random numbers to be.
What is random? Randomness is very rarely (if ever) actually found. This was one of the most perplexing parts of statistics for me � that almost nothing is random. Randomness is normally defined as each item in a random set has no relation, either correlation or formulaic, with any other value generated.
Almost all statistical tests that require randomness get buy with pseudo-random number generators, like Mathcad.
Pseudo-random because a computer can't guess/invent anything. It has to measure things. So normally it measures the time and/or time since CPU was turned on and applies some type of hashing algorithm. Therefore - not actually random. I like this quote:
�Computers are typically very bad at being random because they are designed to be able to reliably calculate the same answer, if given the same data to work with. When computers don't behave this way they are considered broken and in need of repair or replacement. Keys generated by a pure software process on your typically predictable computer will always, at some level, be predictable.�
But sometimes (rarely) you need more randomness. Cryptography is where I came across this. True randomness only occurs at the sub-atomic level. Luckily we don't need to measure that low because sub-atomic randomness "bubbles up" to affect molecules and their interactions (butterfly effect). We call anything governed by randomness �chaotic�. There aren�t too many things that are truly chaotic.
What I mean is: when one atom bounces off another the bounce angle is not directly proportional to the mass of both objects and their collision angle. That is � they are not rubber balls that follow a known path and will bounce off each other in a predictable manner. Instead the configuration, location, shape and speed of electrons and other sub-atomic particles add a degree of "unknown" - true randomness. In fact, if you measured these location, shape (orbital shape), and speed of all sub-atomic particles, you would actually change them. Therefore, you can never predict their activity because that requires measuremnt which affects the object making the prediction invalid.
The �butterfly effect� of atom collisions leading to randomness is easily seen with Lava lamps. The patterns they form are not unique, but the size, speed, direction and even the point at which wax globules join are all random.
A lave lamp is not only easy to look at, it�s also easy to monitor and use the image to generate random numbers.
This site has all the details:
http://www.lavarnd.org/faq/true_random_src.htmlIt has facilities for you to generate numbers. I've used this site/method again and again...
Philip
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Nobody can hear you scream in Euclidean space.
