Randomness Definition and 136 Threads

One postulate of sta mech is all accessible microstates are equally probable in thermal equilibrium, while according to classical mechanics this postulate is not true. But the postulate is still applicable in the real world. I remember that I read one interpretation before: 1. any particle in a...

I have a question about schrodinger cat experiment. If it really is true that the cat is alive and dead at the same time, then what would happen if we took another box which is closed from the top and has a mixture of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and other elements needed to create a small goldfish...

Hi everoyne, Ill be honest - I don't even begin to understand anything about quantum at the moment - but the question I have relates to it (or so i have heard.) Can you help me out? I think I know bits about how you can't tell exactly what a (particle/electron/small thing) is doing or...

I have heard that any type of true random behavior/variable in any system leads to true randomness within the whole system (as it quickly becomes disordered). If true, does this refute true randomness, as it seems there are at least some observed systems that do not display true randomness and...

I have been thinking about the nature of chaos recently and thought of a different way of looking at it. What if "chaos" is really an example of information loss? My rational goes something like this: *classical physics as well as "common sense" suggests that the universe is run by a set of...

Can one differentiate between truly random systems?

If I use a simple algorithm to generate all the numbers from 000,000,000 to 999,999,999, is there a rule for determining how many of these digit sequences are "random"? Slightly more complex algorithms generate the irrational numbers. Are these digit sequences random? For any finite length of...

Hi, I have a quick question regarding the working of quantum physics. As I understand it, it's not possible to be 100% sure of a particle's location until we look at it. The question is though: how unsure are we of this? In other words, how many possible positions could the particle be in until...

Lets assume that the brain is you - it is all your thoughts, feelings, experiences, 'soul' stored within the many different combinations of neurons. Now since these connections between neurons cause a person to be then a machine capable of creating a humans neural pathways randomly would...

"Randomness" in Quantum Physics I am interested in whether "randomness" actually exists in physics. I'm not very familiar with the math involved, but I understand that some quantum theories (one in particular that was created by Richard Feynman that uses canceled infinities) and also the...

1. Is thermal noise truly random? By truly random I mean can you not predict the next value even if you knew everything permitted about the electrons producing the effect. Does this follow from the math of quantum physics? 2. What about nuclear decay is it truly random?

Isn't perfect randomness an unattainable ideal? So wouldn't some sort of pattern to distribution of prime numbers (i.e. other than randomness) seem to be expected? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_numbers" with attention to Open Questions section.

In asking this question, I am assuming randomness exists, but I cannot be certain. I am also assuming that 'perfection'. I cannot be certain of that either. I have also heard that everything strives for perfection, but I also cannot be certain. From this, I have induced that some people strive...

Are strings that are Kolmogorov-random actually random in the usual sense? An incompressible string probably won't contain this post anywhere in it, but a random one can.

quantum randomness vs. "dice randomness" Can anybody explain what's the difference between quantum randomness and "regular" randomness, please. (say random distribution of dice-faces when throwing a dice)

My understanding is that today's computers aren't able to simulate true randomness, only complex functions that appear random but can be predicted if someone knows how they work. Is there any way to incorporate the "true" randomness of QM into technology to achieve true unpredictable randomness?

Can we quantify synchronicity and randomness ?

I recently heard that there are two main phenomenons which are discussed in statistics: chaos and randomness. What exactly is the difference between the two?

How random are the digits of irrational numbers? Can it be said of them (i.e. pi=3.14159...) that given any arbitrarily long string of digits it must occur at some point in any irrational number? And would anyone know of anywhere I could find out more on this topic?

Evolution states that organisms evolve due to random mutations. I question as to whether there is such a thing as randomness. It could be that what appears as randomness to the limited human mind could very well be a extremely complex ordered state that just appears as chaos to us humans who at...

Hello to all, I have a question about probabilities applied to series… How would you rate the probability that a sequence of numbers generated by a true random generator would be comprised of numbers that are part of the result of an equation such as a(n) = 2n+1, or any other one that...

Hi all, for some time I have been wondering about something I’m not too sure on. Please could someone tell me how randomness can exist? That is to say on a molecular level, or on any level things happening without cause or justification? Patterns may be too hard for us to currently understand or...

I find the definition of randomnumber at mathworld.wolfram.com rather unsatisfying. Furthermore, dictionary.com will never help me decide what it means for an infinite sequence of numbers to be random. I read this article once and I have changed it around a bit and I forget (nor can I...

Hello! Do you know any programs that can test randomness of pseudorandom sequences of real numbers?

If a Goedel system type answer to the question : "Does randomness intrisically exists in the nature ?" (i.e. independently of human knowledge for example). I play a coin-throwing similar experiment and get the answer "No"...How is the value of this answer to be interpreted...

is anything in our beautiful univerese 'purely' random? David Suzuki states in 'The Sacred Balance' that because we cannot know with certanty the position of a particle we therefore have no hope in understanding the univerese as we do not understand the most elementary levels. Anyway, i...

I'm interested in exploring the nature and methods of defining random and determined events. Please forget, at least for now, their applications to free will. For example, is there some reason for defining one in terms of the other, as in: An event is random if [conditions]. An event is...

I came across the term 'Quantum Randomness' in another online discussion and was wondering what it actually was? :bugeye: Could anyone explain it to someone with a very sketchy knowledge of physics, if at all possible? Thanks! :smile:

Is there any solid evidence for true randomness in in the universe? Or is it with everything more the idea of "we could theoretically predict it if we had ALL the information"? Is everything thought to be essentially deterministic at some level?

Hi everyone, I started a project looking at chaos and randomness recently but i am having a hard time finding direction. I would really appreciate any pointers and suggestions. So far i have done the background definitions and descriptions, i have also looked at fractal geometry...

A hundred questions about reality and truth, but let I start with just three. Explaining my point Mysical I would like to define the term mysical. Mysical phenomena are the physical phenomena that many would call non-physical, or the non-physical phenomena that many would call physical...

Here's the question, what should u do to check whether the randomness of number given uot by computer is indeed random?

This paper is really thought provoking in its reasoning behind the HUP and how it imposes upon Maths and Physics. http://uk.arxiv.org/PS_cache/quant-ph/pdf/0402/0402197.pdf

i want a mathematical definition of randomness. since i don't think a -ness word is commonly (or perhahps ever) defined in math, maybe it'd be better to define random. since random is more like an adjective, how about a random blah where blah could be at least these three things: sequence or...

is it true that they say an electron's behavior is random? is this conclusion based on their finding that it's position is best described as some kind of probability distribution? if so, that doesn't conclusively prove to me that it's random. for example, a coin's behavior is accurately...

I was contemplating the innards of an algorithm that I needed to write in order to try to simulate randomness in a computer programme. In that process, this chain of thought crossed my mind: Randomness can never be achieved, nor emanate from, any non-random source or system. Everything that...