Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!bellcore!tness7!killer!mit-eddie!bloom-beacon!AI.AI.MIT.EDU!NICK From: NICK@AI.AI.MIT.EDU (Nick Papadakis) Newsgroups: comp.ai.digest Subject: [ayl%hutds.hut.fi%FINGATE.BITNET@MITVMA.MIT.EDU: randomness] Message-ID: <19880602060503.1.NICK@JONES.AI.MIT.EDU> Date: 2 Jun 88 06:05:00 GMT Sender: daemon@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU Organization: The Internet Lines: 21 Approved: ailist@ai.ai.mit.edu Date: Sun, 29 May 88 09:00 EDT From: Antti YlikoskiTo: AIList@AI.AI.MIT.EDU Subject: randomness cc: ayl@hutds.hut.fi In AIList Digest V7 #4, Barry Kort writes: >If I wanted to give my von Neumann machine a *true* random number >generator, I would connect it to an A/D converter driven by thermal >noise (i.e. a toasty resister). I recall that a Zener diode is a good source of noise (but cannot remember the spectrum it gives). It could be a good idea to utilize a Zener / A-D converter random number generator in Monte Carlo simulations. Andy Ylikoski PS. A pearl: Orthodox Christianity: Baruch Ha Ba, B'Shem Adonnnnnai