A random number book is a

book A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, ...

whose main content is a large number of

random number A random number is generated by a random (stochastic) process such as throwing dice. Individual numbers cannot be predicted, but the likely result of generating a large quantity of numbers can be predicted by specific mathematical series and st ...

s or random digits. Such books were used in early

cryptography Cryptography, or cryptology (from "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or ''-logy, -logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of Adversary (cryptography), ...

and

experimental design The design of experiments (DOE), also known as experiment design or experimental design, is the design of any task that aims to describe and explain the variation of information under conditions that are hypothesized to reflect the variation. ...

, and were published by the

RAND Corporation The RAND Corporation, doing business as RAND, is an American nonprofit global policy think tank, research institute, and public sector consulting firm. RAND engages in research and development (R&D) in several fields and industries. Since the ...

and others. The RAND Corporation book ''

A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates ''A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates'' is a random number book by the RAND Corporation, originally published in 1955. The book, consisting primarily of a random number table, was an important 20th century work in the field ...

'' was first published in 1955 and was reissued in 2001. A sequel, ''A Million And One Random Digits'' was published in 2022. Tables of random numbers have probably been used for multiple purposes at least since the Industrial Revolution. A table of random numbers was made by L.H.C. Tippett. Random number books have been rendered obsolete for most purposes by the ready availability of

random number generator Random number generation is a process by which, often by means of a random number generator (RNG), a sequence of numbers or symbols is generated that cannot be reasonably predicted better than by random chance. This means that the particular ou ...

s running on

electronic computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to automatically carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (''computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as ''programs'', wh ...

s. However, they still have niche uses, particularly in the performance of

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

pieces that call for them, such as ''Vision'' (1959) and ''Poem'' (1960) by

La Monte Young La Monte Thornton Young (born October 14, 1935) is an American composer, musician, and performance artist recognized as one of the first American minimalist composers and a central figure in Fluxus and post-war avant-garde music. He is best k ...

References

Random number generation 20th-century books Books by type {{music-stub

See also

References