From: Ian Whittley (imw_at_[hidden])
Date: 2002-06-24 06:52:46
Hi,
A quick question on random number generators. How safe is it to use the
value returned by one of the uniform random number generators as a string
of bits that can then be masked in order to provide a set of values rather
than just the one? I ask as it would allow for a simple way of speeding up
the generation of random numbers as provided by uniform_smallint (and
probably a few others). Even if it is unsafe in any strong sense it might
still be useful for many applications.
Ian Whittley
Senior Research Associate
University of East Anglia