Random
Usage Message: Random[ ] gives a uniformly distributed pseudorandom Real in the range 0 to 1. Random[type, range] gives a pseudorandom number of the specified type, lying in the specified range. Possible types are: Integer, Real and Complex. The default range is 0 to 1. You can give the range {min, max} explicitly; a range specification of max is equivalent to {0, max}. Attributes[Random] = {Protected}
Notes: The properties of the random number generator depend on the type of random numbers being generated (real numbers, integers, etc.). The algorithm used for real machine-precision numbers (generated from Random[] or Random[Real]) is described in:
George Marsaglia and Arif Zaman, A New Class of Random Number
Generators, The Annals of Applied Probability, 1991, Vol. 1,
No. 3, p462-480.
The period of this random number generator (except for unusual seeds) is about 10^445. The machine integer random number generator (generated from Random[Integer,{min,max}]) is based on:
Stephen Wolfram, "Random Sequence Generation by Cellular Automata",
Advances in Applied Mathematics, Vol. 7 (1986), 123-169.
The period of this generator has not been analyzed.
Additional Online Documentation:
Mathematica 3.0
http://documents.wolfram.com/v3/RefGuide/Random.html
Mathematica 4.0
http://documents.wolfram.com/v4/RefGuide/Random.html
Questions or comments? Send email to support@wolfram.com.
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