UNIT 9A

Randomness in Computation:
Random Number Generators

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 Last Unit
• Computer organization: what’s under the hood

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 This Unit
• Random number generation

• Using pseudorandom numbers

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 Overview
• The concept of randomness
o Let’s wake up with a video about randomness
https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/25843319/

• Pseudorandom number generators

o Linear congruential generators

• Using random number generators in Python

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Let’s try in Excel and Python
• Generate random numbers in Excel

• Generate random numbers in Python

o randint(x,y) gives us a random integer
between x and y.
>>> from random import randint
>>> for i in range(10):
print(randint(200,500), end=" ")

445 331 316 388 252 254 382 447 421 500
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 Randomness in Computing
• Determinism: input predictable output

• Sometimes we want unpredictable outcomes

o Games, cryptography, modeling and simulation, selecting samples
from large data sets, randomized algorithms

• We use the word “randomness” for unpredictability,

having no pattern

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What is Randomness?
Tricky philosophical and mathematical question

Consider a sequence of integers. When is it “random”?

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 Defining Randomness
Philosophical question

• Are there any events that are really random?

• Does randomness represent lack of knowledge of the exact

conditions that would lead to a certain outcome?

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 Some Randomness
Properties
• A random sequence should not be biased: as length increases
no element should be any more frequent than others
an unfair coin is biased (Long sequences will have more heads):
H T T H H T H H T T H T H H H T H …

• It’s not good enough to be unbiased: consider

010101010101010101010101010101…
Unbiased but predictable

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Random sequence should be
• Unbiased (no “loaded dice”)

• Information-dense (high entropy)

o Unpredictable sequences have high entropy.

• Incompressible (no short description of what comes next)

But there are sequences with these

properties that are predictable anyway!

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 Randomness is slippery!
• In summary, “random” to mean something like this:
no gambling strategy is possible
that allows a winner in the long run.

• Non-randomness can be detected and proved

• Randomness hard-to-impossible to prove

• Often we settle for

“this sequence passes some tests for randomness”
o high entropy
o passes chi-square test
o …
o See example at http://www.fourmilab.ch/random/

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Randomness in computing
Why do we want it? How do we get it?

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Why Randomness in Computing?
• Internet gambling and state lotteries
• Simulation
o (weather, evolution, finance [oops!], physical & biological sciences, …)
• Monte Carlo methods and randomized algorithms
o (evaluating integrals, …)
• Cryptography
o (secure Internet commerce, BitCoin, secret communications, …)
• Games, graphics, and many more

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 True Random Sequences
• Precomputed random sequences.
o For example, A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates
(1955): A 400 page reference book by the RAND corporation
• 2500 random digits on each page
• Generated from random electronic pulses
• True Random Number Generators (TRNG)
o Extract randomness from physical phenomena
such as atmospheric noise, times for radioactive decay
• Drawbacks:
o Physical process might be biased
(produce some values more frequently)
o Expensive
o Slow
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 Pseudorandom Sequences
• Pseudorandom number generator (PRNG):
algorithm that produces a sequence that looks random
(i.e. passes some randomness tests)

• The sequence cannot be really random!

o because an algorithm produces known output, by definition

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(Pseudo) Random Number Generator
• A (software) machine to produce sequence x1, x2, x3, x4, x5,…
from x0 x0

• Initialize / seed: PRNG

• Get pseudorandom numbers: x1 PRNG

x2 PRNG

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(Pseudo) Random Number Generator
• A (software) machine to produce sequence x1, x2, x3, x4, x5,…
from x0 x0

• Initialize / seed: PRNG

x0
• Get pseudorandom numbers: x1 PRNG

(f is a function that computes

a number): x1
x2 PRNG

• Idea: internal state determines the next number

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 x0

Simple PRNGs PRNG

• Linear congruential generator formula:

xi+1 = (a xi + c) % m x1 PRNG
x0

o In the formula a, c, and m are constants

o Good enough for many purposes

o …if a, c, and m are properly chosen

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 Linear Congruential Generator (LCG)
# global internal state/ seed
currentX = 0

# LCG (a=1, c=7, m=12)

# seed the generator
def prng1(n):
def prng_seed(s) :
return (n + 7) % 12
global currentX
currentX = s # state updater
def prng():
global currentX
currentX = prng1(currentX)
PRNG
return currentX

First 12 numbers: 1, 8, 3, 10, 5, 0, 7, 2, 9, 4, 11, 6

Does this look random to you?
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 Example LCG : Outputs
for i in range(12):
print(prng(), end=" ")
prng_seed(6)
7 2 9 4 11 6 1 8 3 10 5 0
for i in range(20):
print(prng(), end=" ")
--------------------

prng_seed(6) 1 8 3 10 5 0 7 2 9 4 11 6
for i in range(12): 1 8 3 10 5 0 7 2
print(prng(), end=" ")

1 8 3 10 5 0 7 2 9 4 11 6

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 Example LCG
• First 20 numbers:
5, 0, 7, 2, 9, 4, 11, 6, 1, 8, 3, 10,
5, 0, 7, 2, 9, 4, 11, 6, ?
Random-looking?
• What do you think the next number in the sequence is?
• Moral: just eyeballing the sequence not a good test of
randomness!
• This generator has a period that is too short: it repeats too
soon.
(What else do you notice if you look at it for a while?)
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 Another PRNG
def prng2(n):
return (n + 8) % 12 # a=1, c=8, m=12

>>> prng_seed(6)
>>> for i in range(20):
print(prng(), end=" ")

[8, 4, 0, 8, 4, 0, 8, 4, 0, 8, 4, 0]
Random-looking?

Moral: choice of a, c, and m crucial!

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 PRNG Period
Let’ s define the PRNG period as the number of values
in the sequence before it repeats.
5, 0, 7, 2, 9, 4, 11, 6, 1, 8, 3, 10,
5, 0, 7, 2, 9, 4, 11, 6, …
prng1, period = 12 next number = (last number + 7) mod 12

8, 4, 0, 8, 4, 0, 8, 4, 0, 8, …
prng2, period = 3 next number = (last number + 8) mod 12
We want the longest period we can get!

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Picking the constants a, c, m
• Large value for m, and appropriate values for a and c
that work with this m
a very long sequence before numbers
begin to repeat.

• Maximum period is m

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Picking the constants a, c, m
• The LCG will have a period of m (the maximum) if
and only if:
o c and m are relatively prime (i.e. the only positive integer
that divides both c and m is 1)
o a-1 is divisible by all prime factors of m
o if m is a multiple of 4 , then a-1 is also a multiple of 4
• (Number theory tells us so)

If c and m are not relatively prime,  After s/n cycles you

then c = nk and m = sk for some k. come back to the seed
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Picking the constants a, c, m
(1) c and m (3) if m is a multiple
relatively prime of 4, so is a-1
(2) a-1 divisible by all
prime factors of m

• Example for prng1 (a = 1, c = 7, m = 12)

o Factors of 7: 1, 7 Factors of 12: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 12
o 0 is divisible by all prime factors of 12  true
o if 12 is a multiple of 4 , then 0 is also a multiple of 4  true

• prng1 will have a period of 12

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 Exercise for you
(1) c and m (3) if m is a multiple
relatively prime of 4, so is a-1
(2) a-1 divisible by all
prime factors of m

xi+1 = (5xi + 3) modulo 8

x0 = 4 a=5 c=3 m=8

• What is the period of this generator? Why?

• Compute x1, x2, x3 for this LCG formula.

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 Some pitfalls of PRNGs
• Predictable seed.
Example: Famous Netscape security flaw caused by using system time.

• Repeated seed when running many applications at the same

time.

• Hidden correlations

• High quality but too slow

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Finding hidden correlations

Looking
good!

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Finding hidden correlations

OOPS!

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 Advice from an expert
Get expert advice 

A good generator is not so easy to find if one sets out to

design it by oneself, without the necessary mathematical
background. On the other hand, with the references and links
we supply, a good random number generator designed by
experts is relatively easy to find.
– P. Hellekalek

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Using random number
generators in Python

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 Random integers in Python
• To generate random integers in Python, we can use the
randint function from the random module.
• randint(a,b) returns an integer n such that
a ≤ n ≤ b (note that it’s inclusive)
>>> from random import randint
>>> randint(0,15110)
12838
>>> randint(0,15110)
5920
>>> randint(0,15110)
12723
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 List Comprehensions
One output from a random number generator not so
interesting when we are trying to see how it behaves
>>> randint(0, 99)
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Easily get a list of outputs
>>> [ randint(0,99) for i in range(10) ]
[5, 94, 28, 95, 34, 49, 27, 28, 65, 65]

>>> [ randint(0,99) for i in range(5) ]

[69, 51, 8, 57, 12]

>>> [ randint(101, 200) for i in range(5) ]

[127, 167, 173, 106, 115]
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 Some functions from the random module
>>> colors = ['red', 'blue','green',
'gray', 'black']

>>> [ random() for i in range(5) ] >>> [ choice(colors) for i in range(5) ]

[0.05325137538696989, 0.9139978582604943, ['gray', 'green', 'blue', 'red', 'black']
0.614299510564187, 0.32231562902200417,
0.8198417602039083]
>>> [ choice(colors) for i in range(5) ]
['red', 'blue', 'green', 'blue', 'green']
>>> [ uniform(1,10) for i in range(5) ]
[4.777545709914872, 1.8966139666534423,
8.334224863883207, 3.006025360903046, >>> sample(colors, 2)
8.968660414003441] ['gray', 'red']

>>> [ randrange(10) for i in range(5) ] >>> [ sample(colors, 2) for i in range(3)]

[8, 7, 9, 4, 0] [['gray', 'red'], ['blue', 'green'],
['blue', 'black']]

>>> [randrange(0, 101, 2) for i in range(5)]

[76, 14, 44, 24, 54] >>> shuffle(colors)
>>> colors
['red', 'gray', 'black', 'blue', 'green']

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 Adjusting Range
• Suppose we have a LCG with period n (n is very large)

• … but we want to play a game involving dice

(each side of a die has a number of spots from 1 to 6)

• How do we take an integer between 0 and n, and obtain an

integer between 1 and 6?
• Forget about our LCG and use randint(?,?)
• Great, but how did they do that? what values
should we use?

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 Adjusting Range
• Specifically: our LCG is the Linear Congruential Generator of
glib (period = 231 = 2147483648)
• We call prng() and get numbers like
1533190675, 605224016, 450231881, 1443738446, …
• We define:
def roll_die():
roll = prng() % 6 + 1
assert 1 <= roll and roll <= 6
return roll

• What’s the smallest possible value for prng() % 6 ?

• The largest possible?
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 Random range
• Instead of rolling dice, we want to pick a random (US)
presidential election year between 1788 and 2012
o election years always divisible by 4

• We still have the same LCG with period 2147483648.

What do we do?
o Forget about our LCG and use randrange(1788, 2013, 4)
o Great, but how did they do that?

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 Random range
• Remember, prng() gives numbers like
1533190675, 605224016, 450231881, 1443738446, …

def election_year() :
year = ?
assert 1788 <= year and year <= 2012 and year % 4 == 0
return year

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 Random range
• First: think how many numbers are there in the range we want?
That is, how many elections from 1788 to 2012?
o 2012 – 1788? No!
o (2012 – 1788) / 4? Not quite! (there’s one extra)
o (2012 – 1788) / 4 + 1 = 57 elections

 So let’s randomly generate a number from 0 to 56 inclusive:

def election_year() :
election_number = prng() % ((2012 - 1788) // 4 + 1)
assert 0 <= election_number and election_number <= 56
year = ?
assert 1788 <= year and year <= 2012 and year % 4 == 0
return year

15110 Principles of Computing, Carnegie Mellon University - CORTINA 49

 Random range
• Okay, but now we have random integers from 0 through 56

o good, since there have been 57 elections

o bad, since we want years, not election numbers 0 … 56

def election_year() :
election_number = prng() % ((2012 - 1788) // 4 + 1)
assert 0 <= election_number and election_number <= 56
year = election_number * 4 + 1788
assert 1788 <= year and year <= 2012 and year % 4 == 0
return year

15110 Principles of Computing, Carnegie Mellon University - CORTINA 50

 Random range
Sample output:

>>> [ election_year() for i in range(10) ]

[1976, 1912, 1796, 1800, 1984, 1852, 1976, 1804, 1992, 1972]

The same reasoning will work for a random sampling of any arithmetic series.
(Just think of the series and let the random number generator take care of the randomness!)
o How many different numbers in the series?
If there are k, randomly generate a number from 0 to k.
o Are the numbers separated by a constant (like the 4 years between elections)?
If so, multiply by that constant.
o What’s the smallest number in the series?
Add it to the number you just generated.

15110 Principles of Computing, Carnegie Mellon University - CORTINA 51

 Next Time
Using pseudorandom numbers

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