For a long time random numbers have been created by simply pulling out a string of numbers from the Pi sequence. Although this isn’t a bad way to pull a random number, there are much better ways according to a study done by Purdue University.

Physicists including Purdue’s Ephraim Fischbach have completed a study comparing the “randomness” in pi to that produced by 30 software random number generators and one chaos-generating physical machine. After conducting several tests, they have found that while sequences of digits from pi are indeed an acceptable source of randomness – often an important factor in data encryption and in solving certain physics problems – pi’s digit string does not always produce randomness as effectively as manufactured generators do.

I would conduct my own study by looking at the first one million digits in Pi, but I have other things to do today. Like brush my teeth.

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