Statistical randomness

variable representing a random phenomenon

thumb|alt=|A Pseudorandom Number Generator|pseudorandomly generated [[bitmap]] In common usage, randomness is the apparent or actual lack of definite patterns or predictability in information. A random sequence of events, symbols or steps often has no order and does not follow an intelligible pattern or combination. Individual random events are, by definition, unpredictable, but if there is a known probability distribution, the frequency of different outcomes over repeated events (or "trials") is predictable. For example, when throwing two dice, the outcome of any particular roll is unpredicta

humorously stated theorem that a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will surely type a given text, such as the complete works of William Shakespeare.

expected value of the amount of information delivered by a message

The tendency to erroneously consider the inevitable streaks or clusters arising in small samples from random distributions to be non-random

sequence of random variables

concept in information theory

sequence of random variables such that, for any finite permutation of the indices, the joint probability distribution of the permuted sequence equals that of the original

generalization of the concept of random variable to more complicated spaces than the simple real line

normalized measure of the dispersion of a probability distribution

analyzing a set of data to see if it can be described as random (patternless)