Article View: sci.math.stat
Article #219Re: Seeding random number generators
From: Charles Geyer
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1992 19:18
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1992 19:18
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In article <2532@creatures.cs.vt.edu> lavinus@csgrad.cs.vt.edu (Joseph Lavinus) writes: > Is there a statistically acceptable way to seed a random number generator > in a computer program? In article <1992Apr16.144525.25017@galileo.cc.rochester.edu> em@merlin.cvs.rochester.edu (Ethan Montag) replies: > Someone once told me to generate one more random number at the end > of your application and save it. Then use it as the seed next time > you run. That way you have a new random seed each time you run. Arrgh! If you're going to save something between runs, save the *seed* so you get one continuous run of the generator. This is the Right Thing. Anything else is a lazy hack. -- Charles Geyer School of Statistics University of Minnesota charlie@umnstat.stat.umn.edu
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Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!sparky!uunet!spool.mu.edu!umn.edu!charlie From: charlie@umnstat.stat.umn.edu (Charles Geyer) Newsgroups: sci.math.stat Subject: Re: Seeding random number generators Message-ID: <1992Apr16.191851.7527@news2.cis.umn.edu> Date: 16 Apr 92 19:18:51 GMT Article-I.D.: news2.1992Apr16.191851.7527 References: <2532@creatures.cs.vt.edu> <1992Apr16.084437.18471@maths.tcd.ie> <1992Apr16.144525.25017@galileo.cc.rochester.edu> Sender: news@news2.cis.umn.edu (Usenet News Administration) Organization: School of Statistics, University of Minnesota Lines: 22 Nntp-Posting-Host: isles.stat.umn.edu