RANDU

RANDU is a linear congruential algorithm widely considered to be one of the most ill-conceived random number generators ever designed. Quotes ...its very name RANDU is enough to bring dismay into the eyes and stomachs of many computer scientists! Donald E. Knuth, The Art of Computer Programming (2nd ed., 1969), Vol. 2, §3.3.4, p. 104 One of us recalls producing a 'random' plot with only 11 planes, and being told by his computer center's programming consultant that he had misused the random number generator: 'We guarantee that each number is random individually, but we don’t guarantee that more than one of them is random.' Figure that out. William H. Press, Press, Numerical Recipes in Fortran 77: The Art of Scientific Computing (2nd ed), (1992). ISBN: 0-521-43064-X. See also Failure Software External links Category:Computer science