In a recent note, R.S. said: > Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 22:38:15 +0200 > > No hardware or software (or both) generates random numbers. The numbers > are always pseudo-random. However the level (intensity) of "pseuso" is > different. Sometimes good enough. Sometimes even not known. > There is hardware available, perhaps not for z/Series, but for PC's for a few hundred dollars which variously uses:
o A comparator driven by a hot resistor or noisy diode. o A detector monitoring a nuclear radioactive source. o A pair of detectors monitoring individual photons via a half-silvered plate. At least the last of these according to the Copenhagen interpretation of Quantum Mechanics is physically random. According to David Bohm's observationally equivalent interpretation, it's deterministic but the initial state is unknowable. What's your criterion for "random"? It's partly a philosophical question. -- gil -- StorageTek INFORMATION made POWERFUL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
