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randomness

Latest Articles

Insights puzzle

How Randomness Can Arise From Determinism

By Pradeep Mutalik
October 14, 2019
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Playing with a simple bean machine illustrates how deterministic laws can produce probabilistic, random-seeming behavior.

An illustration of a sunset beach scene turned into a puzzle.
Insights puzzle

Solution: ‘Perfect Randomness’

By Pradeep Mutalik
September 27, 2019
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Is nature inherently random or is perfect randomness just an illusion based on our ignorance?

An illustration of a sunset beach scene turned into a puzzle.
Insights puzzle

The Puzzling Search for Perfect Randomness

By Pradeep Mutalik
August 20, 2019
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Does objective, perfect randomness exist, or is randomness merely a product of our ignorance?

Abstractions blog

How Randomness Can Make Math Easier

By Kevin Hartnett
July 9, 2019
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Randomness would seem to make a mathematical statement harder to prove. In fact, it often does the opposite.

geometry

Random Surfaces Hide an Intricate Order

By Kevin Hartnett
July 2, 2019
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Mathematicians have proved that a random process applied to a random surface will yield consistent patterns.

quantum information theory

How to Turn a Quantum Computer Into the Ultimate Randomness Generator

By Anil Ananthaswamy
June 19, 2019
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Pure, verifiable randomness is hard to come by. Two proposals show how to make quantum computers into randomness factories.

Art for "Proof Finds That All Change Is a Mix of Order and Randomness"
dynamical systems

Proof Finds That All Change Is a Mix of Order and Randomness

By Kevin Hartnett
March 27, 2019
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All descriptions of change are a unique blend of chance and determinism, according to the sweeping mathematical proof of the “weak Pinsker conjecture.”

Insights puzzle

Solution: ‘A Drunkard’s Walk in Manhattan’

By Pradeep Mutalik
September 7, 2016
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City blocks help illustrate why walking randomly tends to take you away from your starting point.

Insights puzzle

A Drunkard’s Walk in Manhattan

By Pradeep Mutalik
August 18, 2016
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Why is it that when you walk randomly, the more you walk, the farther you get from your starting point?


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