True Random Number Service
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Testimonials - Simulation and Modelling
RANDOM.ORG is a true random number service that generates randomness via atmospheric noise. This page contains testimonials from users of the service.
Research on Sorting Algorithms
From: Paul Biggar from Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
Date: 12 December 2008
I meant to email you a long time ago, but kept putting it off until
the work was published. Anyway, I used random.org data initially for
my final year project in 2003/2004. It was research on sorting
algorithms in the presence of caches and branch predictors. Back then
the data was available for download in 10MB blocks, and there were 16
of them. So I uses all of them, 'cat'ed together, as the data to be
sorted.
I extended this into a Tech Report in 2005, and a paper
in 2006 which got
published in the ACM Journal of Experimental Algorithmics (eventually,
in June).
Having truly random data made me certain my results weren't due to my
errors, and having so much of it made my sure it wasn't an anomaly.
That was especially useful as a mere undergrad, when I wasn't really
sure what I was doing.
Thanks a lot for random.org, and for the data.
Seeding Molecular Dynamics and Monte Carlo Simulations
From: Steve Plimpton from Sandia National Labs
Date: 18 August 2008
I write and use molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulators which
have their own pseudo-random number generators (for portability and
reproducibility). These require the user to input a random number
seed. If I want to perform an ensemble of N statistically independent
runs (e.g. with different initial conditions), I need N independent
seeds. So I use your site to generate seeds to paste into my input
script. I.e. your random generator generates random seeds for input
to a pseudo-random generator. Say that 5 times fast.
Neuroscience Experiments
From: Paul Campion from the US National Institutes of Health
Date: 13 October 2007
Hello,
I have been using the random sequence generator for about a year to create slot machine simulations for neuroscience experiments. Thanks so much, your site is great!
American Government Simulation
From: Brady Carlson who is administrator for the American Government Simulation
Date: 8 March 2005
[We] use the random number generator for determining what events take place in our simulated political landscape. The administrators develop probabilities of likely outcomes of a certain event, then use the random generators to determine which events take place. It's very useful, thanks!
Noisy Transistor Simulation
From: Pepin Torres from Revere, Massachusetts in USA
Date: 7 December 2004
I used random.org to simulate noisy transistors in circuit simulations for a school project (and made sure to credit random.org for the data in the report!)
Voting Theory Project
From: Patrick Ayers
Date: 7 January 2004
My name is Patrick Ayers, a Junior in high school in Florida.
I am doing a research project on voting theory, and I used numbers from random.org to order candidates on the ballots as well as assign which group of voter would use which system of elections.
Virus Infection Simulation
From: David N. Levy from the University of Alabama at Birmingham
Date: 21 February 2002
Donation: Mads's Amazon Wishlist 
I study the life-cycle of viruses, and I perform
lots of tissue culture experiments. In order to try to develop
theories to explain some results I was getting, I wrote a
computer program that uses a Monte Carlo scheme to simulate
infection of cells by viruses. I need a different random number
for each simulated virus, in order to randomly assign it to a
cell that it "infects". In order for the results to be
meaningful, I need to simulate tens of thousands of "cells" and
hundreds of thousands of "viruses", so I need hundreds of
thousands of random numbers. The the pseudorandom numbers
produced by the Apple Macintosh built-in linear congruental
generator proved themselves to be not good enough for the job,
as I found that some numbers were chosen too often, a definite
no-no for my purposes. Then I saw the NY Times article about
this site and gave it a try. First I tried using random.org
numbers to seed the Macintosh generator at frequent intervals
during the execution of the simulation, but it did not solve the
problem. So I tested using all numbers from this site and they
passed my quality test. So now I download several batches at a
time of 10,000 numbers between 1 and 40,000 and string them into
big files as the sources of my numbers. I'd like to be able to
download them in even bigger batches, though. Thanks for a
truly useful service!
Beta Decay of Nuclei
From: Yannis Thomopoulos from the Physics Department at the University of Athens
Date: 3 June 2001
I used your random number
page to get truly random numbers between 0-99 in order to study
the Monte-Carlo method for arithmetic solution of problems and
to simulate the beta decay of nuclei. Thanx a lot, it saved me
the trouble of having to input into Ms-Excel, 500 numbers, which
were pseudo-random, anyway.