For whatever reason I was trying to think if anything could consistently produce random results. Something that can be repeated over and over again, using exactly the same method, and have no pattern, no probability, ever emerge? Computers can’t do it. A roulette wheel will eventually start showing wear and favor certain numbers, the same thing with dice. Could there be something in nature? Just a thought. Thanks.
2006-11-30 01:12:14 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Mathematics
black holes suck in only some x-ray photons and others escape so it. it is random if a photon is going to be sucked in or not. read this in one of Steven Hawkins publications. Think it was titled god plays dice with the universe.
2006-11-30 01:51:45 · answer #1 · answered by Demonspawn 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
You've hit on a non-trivial question, it is really difficult to achieve true randomness, and that's something that ought to be pointed out more often to those that want to believe that there's always a natural tendency towards disorder and chaos. But certain quantum processes are inherently random, such as the exact time an atom will decay, or when an excited electron orbit will decay and give up a photon, or how a travelling electron will be sorted in a Stern-Gerlach. Devising a true "random generator" is an important field of applied physics, as important as devising an accurate clock, because there are many applications in computer simulations using Monte Carlo processes that require a random input. Progams that generate "random numbrers" are actually only generating psuedo random numbers, it's been shown that it's not possible for a finite computer program to ever generate true randomness.
2006-11-30 10:52:27 · answer #2 · answered by Scythian1950 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
well, humans can also make patterns out of almost anything (exceptions such as pi exist, but are uncommon), so to find an example fitting the criteria above would be immensly difficult, if not impossible.
PS: to all you hopefulls out there, let me show you some of the things you cant use, as a mathematical formula or algorithm can be used to find a pattern in these: where rain will fall, how a plant will grow, the path of a single grain of sand across the dessert, etc. Good luck! I can't think of one
2006-11-30 09:25:36 · answer #3 · answered by pito16places 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I saw an example of putting hundreds random points in a 3d space like a cube. No matter how many times they ran it, they could find some orientation of the cube so that the points made a regular pattern. So maybe you are right.
2006-11-30 09:15:39 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Human behavior pal!
We (all people) behave differently each day, each hour, each moment. Inclusive in the same situation.
If someone could understand and obtain a mathematic model for the human behavior it would be rich! LOL
Did you remember John Nash?.. he was trying to get a model of how pigeons move. I guess he couldn´t - So it is a random variable, too.
Hope this help!
2006-11-30 09:32:06 · answer #5 · answered by NES 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋