Random numbers are a precious commodity, whether expressed as strings of decimal digits or simply 1s and 0s. Computer scientist George Marsaglia of Florida State University, however, likes giving them ...

Nobel Prize-winning physicist Frank Wilczek explores the secrets of the cosmos. Read previous columns here. Many summers ago, I discovered a book called “A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal ...

RAND Corp. has done exhaustive computer-aided tests regarding random digits but let’s look into some recent history that shows random machine design ideas that did not involve computers. Back at the ...

David H. Bailey, chief technologist of the Department of Energy's National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and his colleague Richard ...

When I was in college, several decades ago, I relied heavily on a computational device called a slide rule and on a little, paperbound handbook of mathematical and scientific tables. I occasionally ...

Every year, math enthusiasts celebrate Pi Day on March 14, because the date spells the first three digits (3.14) of pi, or π, the mathematical constant that represents the ratio of a circle's ...