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random number

noun

  1. number that cannot be reasonably predicted
L744420 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ˈɹæn.dəm ˈnʌm.bɚ/

noun

  1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see random, number.
  2. A number allotted randomly using suitable generator (electronic machine or as simple "generator" as die).
  3. 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....

  4. A pseudorandom number.

    The generation of random numbers is too important to be left to chance.