From: gts (gts@optexinc.com)
Date: Fri Sep 20 2002 - 03:04:44 MDT
Emlyn,
>... If you take the output of the device, reversing every second bit,
> you'll get the biased sequence back.
I was thinking more about this statement of yours above. Perhaps it goes
to deeper issues than those I addressed in my last message to you.
It is true that by reversing every second bit one will recover the
original biased sequence, assuming the original sequence was in fact
biased. But does this mean the final sequence was not genuinely random?
I would have to answer "no." I say this because I believe that for any
genuinely undetermined and unpredictable sequence, there is in theory an
algorithm or rule that will predict it. The possibility of such a rule
or algorithm does not however mean the sequence is not itself genuinely
random.
My guess is that my assertion above has been proved mathematically,
though I'm not personally aware of the proof.
This question of yours does go to the very heart of the meaning of
randomness. Thanks for bringing it up.
-gts
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 09:17:11 MST