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A random number book is a book whose main content is a large number of random numbers or random digits. Such books were used in early cryptography and experimental design, and were published by the
A random number book is a book whose main content is a large number of random numbers or random digits. Such books were used in early cryptography and experimental design, and were published by the Rand Corporation
The RAND Corporation (from the phrase "research and development") is an American nonprofit global policy think tank created in 1948 by Douglas Aircraft Company to offer research and analysis to the United States Armed Forces. It is financed ...
and others. The Rand corporation book '' A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates'' was first published in 1955 and was reissued in 2001. A sequel, '' A Million And One Random Digits'' was published in 2022.
Random number books have been rendered obsolete for most purposes by the ready availability of random number generators running on electronic computers. 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 kno ...
.
See also
* One-time pad * Random number tableReferences
Random number generation 20th-century books Books by type {{music-stub