random number
noun
- number that cannot be reasonably predicted
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈɹæn.dəm ˈnʌm.bɚ/
noun
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see random, number.
- A number allotted randomly using suitable generator (electronic machine or as simple "generator" as die).
- A number selected based on a uniform distribution, typically using a suitable generator (for example, rolling a die).
“1975, Gregory Chaitin, "Randomness and Mathematical Proof", Scientific American, (232), May 1975, pp. 47–52, reprinted in Information, Randomness & Incompleteness: Papers on Algorithmic Information Theory Tossing a coin is a classical procedure for producing a random number .... Tossing a coin 20 times can produce any one of 2²⁰ ... binary series, and each of them has exactly the same probability.”
“A random number is a precisely defined mathematical concept in which every number should have an equal likeliness of occurrence....”
- A pseudorandom number.
“The generation of random numbers is too important to be left to chance.”