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Dice Apps & arc4random_uniform(6)

Posted By: Albert Steg
Date: Friday, 24 February 2017, at 3:52 a.m.

In Response To: Dice Apps & arc4random_uniform(6) (Phil Simborg)

"Is there any reasonable person out there that doubts that non-precision dice, dice that do not have exactly equal sides and corners and perfectly balanced, would produce non-random results in a long study?"

Phil (and others) -- just a genuine question about terminology: does the term "random" by definition require a near-perfect distribution of results? So, for instance, we would say an unintentionally flawed roulette wheel that favored one or more numbers is "not random"?

Is it accurate to say, for instance that older 'pitted dice' are far from random and though "precision dice" are "more nearly random" they are not in fact random? You mention one standard deviation as a benchmark -- is a system that falls below that benchmark considered "not random"?

I'm tempted in my thinking to say that while devices may not be so perfectly crafted that they distribute results perfectly as desired, they are still 'random" - but just not perfectly precise. But is that the very definition of non-randomness? Just trying to get the terms straight!

Albert

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