Random Numbers

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What is a random number generator?

• Most random number generators generate a

sequence of integers by a recurrence (linear
congruent generator):
x0 = given
xn+1 = P1 xn + P2 (mod N) n=0,1,2,...

divide by N to get a number in [0,1]

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 A sample sequence
• x0 =79, N = 100, P1 = 263, and P2 = 71
• x1 = 79*263 + 71 (mod 100) = 20848 (mod 100) = 48,
• x2 = 48*263 + 71 (mod 100) = 12695 (mod 100) = 95,
• x3 = 95*263 + 71 (mod 100) = 25056 (mod 100) = 56,
• x4 = 56*263 + 71 (mod 100) = 14799 (mod 100) = 99,
• Subsequent numbers are: 8, 75, 96, 68, 36, 39, 28,
35, 76, 59, 88, 15, 16, 79, 48.
• The sequence then repeats

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 Sequences
• P1, P2, and N determine the characteristics
of the random number generator
• The choice of x0 (the seed ) determines the
particular sequence of random numbers that
is generated.

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 What makes a good random
number generator?
• A sequence is good if it passes several well
established statistical tests.
• Or, it's good if it gives good results in
particular applications (where the meaning
of "good results" is heavily dependent upon
the context).

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 One Test – plot pairs
• 100 points (xi, xi+1).
• It's clear that there are
only 20 points; 100
were drawn, so five lie
on top of each other
• The dots appear to lie
along six slanted lines.
• Not very ‘random’

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 Second plot
• P1 = 16807,
P2 = 0,
N= 231 -1 = 2147483647
• Distinctly better

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 Linear generators
• All sequences generated by a linear congruent
formula will eventually enter a cycle which
repeats itself endlessly; a good generator will
produce a long sequence of numbers before
repeating. The max. length of course is N.
• A linear congruent formula will generate a
sequence of maximum length if and only if the
following conditions are met (See Knuth:
• i) P2 is relatively prime to N;
• ii) B = (P1 - 1) is a multiple of p, for every prime
p dividing N;
• iii) B = (P1 - 1) is a multiple of 4, if N is a
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 THE MTH$RANDOM
ALGORITHM
• The VMS Run-Time Library provides a random
number generator routine called
MTH$RANDOM.
SEED = (69069*SEED + 1) MOD 2**32
X = SEED/2**32
• Note MTH$RANDOM satisfies the conditions
above: i) 1 is relatively prime to 2**32 since 1 is
relatively prime to all numbers.
• ii) 69068 is a multiple of 2, which is the only
prime dividing 2**32.
• iii) 69068 is a multiple of 4.

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 THE MTH$RANDOM
ALGORITHM
• Note for the MTH$RANDOM function if
SEED is initially an ODD value then the
new value of SEED will always be an even
value. And if SEED is an EVEN value, then
the new value of SEED will be an ODD
value. Thus if the algorithm is repeatedly
called, the value of SEED will alternate
between EVEN and ODD values.

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 THE MTH$RANDOM
ALGORITHM
• More important than starting the
MTH$RANDOM generator to get one
random sequence is the problem of
restarting the generator to get several
different sequences. You may wish to run a
simulation several times and use a different
random sequence each time.

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 THE MTH$RANDOM
ALGORITHM
• To come up with a good "random" initial SEED
value to start the generator, use the generator itself
to produce a random SEED value to start our
random number generator with! Select an initial
nonrandom SEED value, then run the random
number generator a few cycles to generate a
random SEED value. We then restart our random
number generator with the new random SEED
value, and the output is then a properly initialized
random sequence.

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 THE RANDU ALGORITHM
• The VMS FORTRAN Run-Time Library contains a
random number generator RANDU, first introduced by
IBM IN 1963. This turned out to be a poor random number
generator, but nonetheless it has been widely spread.
• INTEGER*4 SEED
• INTEGER*2 W(2)
• EQUIVALENCE( SEED, W(1) )
• R = FOR$IRAN( W(1), W(2) )
• R is the return value between [0,1). W(1) and W(2)
together is the seed value for the generator. This goes back
to the PDP-11 days of 16 bit integers. SEED is really a 32
bit integer, but it was represented as two 16 bit integers.

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 THE RANDU ALGORITHM
SEED = (65539*SEED) MOD 2**31
X = SEED/2**31
• Note if SEED is initially an odd value, the
new SEED generated will also be an odd
value. Similarly, if SEED is initially an
even value. Thus there are at least two
disjoint cycles for the RANDU generator.

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 THE RANDU ALGORITHM
Actually, the situation is even worse than that.
• For odd SEED values there are two separate
disjoint cycles, one generated by the SEED
value 1, and one generated by the SEED
value 5.
• The cycles <1> and <5> each contain
536,870,912 values. Together they account
for all of the (2**31)/2 possible odd SEED
values.

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 THE RANDU ALGORITHM
• There are 30 different disjoint cycles using even SEED values.
• TABLE 5.2.2 RANDU WITH EVEN VALUES OF SEED
CYCLE LENGTH OF CYCLE
<2> 268435456 <4> 134217728
<8> 67108864 <10> 268435456
<16> 33554432 <20> 134217728
<32> 16777216 <40> 67108864
<64> 8388608 <80> 33554432
<128> 4194304 <160> 16777216
<256> 2097152 <320> 8388608
<512> 1048576 <640> 4194304
<1024> 524288 <1280> 2097152
<2048> 262144 <2560> 1048576
<4096> 131072 <5120> 524288
<8192> 65536 <10240> 262144
<16384> 32768 <20480> 131072
<32768> 16384 <40960> 65536
<81920> 32768 <163840> 16384

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 THE RANDU ALGORITHM
• There are a total of (2**31)/2 =
1,073,741,824 possible even SEED values;
we've accounted for 1,073,709,056 of them.
The remaining 32768 SEED values are ones
for which the 31 bit binary representation of
them has the lower 16 bits set to 0. These
SEED values are treated by RANDU as if
the SEED value were 1, and they result in
the cycle <1>.
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 Tests
The 1-D TEST is a frequency test. Imagine a number
line stretching from 0 to 1. Use the random
number generator to plot random points on this
line. First divide the line into a number of "bins".
1 2 3 4
|---------|---------|---------|---------|
0 .25 .50 .75 1.0
See how randomly the random number generator
fills our bins. If the bins are filled too unevenly,
the Chi-Square test will give a value that's high,
indicating the points do not appear random.

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 Tests
In 2D, divide the plane into squares. You can think of similar
tests in higher dimensions also.

Define: N = number of trials

k = number of possible outcomes of the chance experiment
f(ZETA_i) = number of occurrences of ZETA_i in N trials
E(ZETA_i) = The expected number of occurrences of
ZETA_i in N trials. E(ZETA_i) = N*Pr(ZETA_i).
i=k [ f(ZETA_i) - E(ZETA_i) ]**2
CHISQ = SUM -------------------------------------
i=1 E(ZETA_i)
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 Tests
MTH$RANDOM
SEED = (69069*SEED + 1) mod 2**32
X = SEED/2**32 returns real in range [0,1)
RATING:
Fails 1-D above 350,000 bpd (bins per dimension)
Fails 2-D above 600 bpd
Fails 3-D above 100 bpd
Fails 4-D above 27 bpd
Comments: This generator is also used by the VAX
FORTRAN intrinsic function RAN, and by the VAX
BASIC function RND.
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 Tests
RANDU
SEED = (65539*SEED) mod 2**31
X = SEED/2**31 returns real in range [0,1)
RATING:
Fails 1-D above 200,000 bpd
Fails 2-D above 400 bpd
Fails 3-D above 3 bpd
Fails 4-D above 6 bpd
Comments: Note the extremely poor performance for
dimensions 3 and above. This generator is obsolete.

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 Tests
ANSI C ( rand() )
SEED = (1103515245*SEED + 12345) mod 2**31
X = SEED returns integer in range [0, 2**31)
RATING:
Fails 1-D above 500,000 bpd
Fails 2-D above 600 bpd
Fails 3-D above 80 bpd
Fails 4-D above 21 bpd

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 Shuffling
A simple way to greatly improve any random number
generator is to shuffle the output.
• Start with an array of dimension around 100 (exact size is
not important.)
• Initialize the array by filling it with random numbers from
your generator.
• When the program wants a random number, randomly
choose one from the array and output it to the program.
• Replace the number chosen in the array with a new
random number from the random number generator.
• Note that this shuffling method uses two numbers from the
random number generator for each random number output
to the calling program.

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 Tests with shuffling

ANSI C rand()
WITHOUT SHUFFLING WITH SHUFFLING
1-D Fails above 500,000 bpd Fails above 400,000 bpd
2-D Fails above 600 bpd Fails above 3100 bpd
3-D Fails above 80 bpd Fails above 210 bpd
4-D Fails above 21 bpd Fails above 55 bpd

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 Lagged Fibonacci Generators
• The name lfg comes from the Fibonacci sequence 1,
1, 2, 3, 5, 8, ......Xn = Xn-1 + Xn-2.
• LFGs generate random numbers from the following
iterative scheme: Xn = Xn-i + Xn-k (mod m) the lags
i and k satisfy the conditions i > k > 0. i initial values
X0, X1,.....,Xi-1 are needed. For most applications m
is power of 2, and with proper choice of i, k, and the
first i values of X, the period is (2i - 1)2(M-1). One
problem with LFG is that i words of memory must be
kept current, whereas LCG requires only that the last
value of X be saved.
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Parallel Random Number Generators
• there should be no inter-processor correlation
• sequences generated on each processor should
satisfy the qualities of serial random number
generators
• it should generate same sequence for different
number of processors
• it should work for any number of processors
• there should be no data movement between
processors
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 Sequence Splitting
• A serial random number sequence is partitioned
into non-overlapping contiguous sections. If there
are N processors, and the period of the serial
sequence is P, then the first processor gets the first
P/N random numbers, the second processor gets
the second P/N random numbers, etc. If the user
happens to consume more random numbers than
expected, then the sequences could overlap.
Another possible problem is that long-range
correlations that exist in serial generators could
become short-range inter-stream or inter-processor
correlations in parallel generators

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 Leapfrog

• In this approach, the sequence of a serial generator

is partitioned in turn among multiple processors
like a deck of cards dealt to card players. If there
are N processors, each processor leapfrogs by N in
the sequence. For example, processor i gets Xi ,
Xi+N , Xi+2N , etc. This again has the problem
that long-range correlations in the original
sequence can become short-range inter-stream
correlations in the parallel generator.
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 Splitting and Leapfrog

• Both approaches result in non-scalable

parallel random number generators, i.e., the
number of different random numbers that
can be used on each processor decreases as
the number of processors are increased.

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Parallel Random Number Generators
Parameterization
The parameterization method is one of the latest
methods of generating parallel random numbers.
The exact meaning of parameterization depends
on the type of parallel random number generator.
This method identifies a parameter in the
underlying recursion of a serial random number
generator that can be varied. Each valid value of
this parameter leads to a recursion that produces a
unique, full-period stream of random numbers.
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 Parallel LFG
• Parallelize a lagged Fibonacci generator by running
the same sequential generator on each processor, but
with different initial lag tables
• The initialization of the lag tables on each processor is
a critical part of this algorithm. Any correlations
within the seed tables or between different seed tables
could have dire consequences.
• Since the initial seeds are chosen at random, there is
no guarantee that the sequences generated on different
processors will not overlap. However using a large lag
eliminates this problem to all practical purposes, since
the period of these generators is so long
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Parallel Random Number Generators
Scalable Parallel Random Number Generator
(SPRNG) is a library containing several random
number generators for serial and parallel
computation, developed jointly by the University
of Southern Mississippi and NCSA. It is callable
from Fortran, C, and C++ programs and has been
subjected to some of the largest random number
tests (both statistical and physical). Its speed is
also very competitive with the faster generators.

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Parallel Random Number Generators
SPRNG contains the following different random
number generators:
• Modified Additive Lagged Fibonacci Generator
(lfg)
• Multiplicative Lagged Fibonacci Generator (mlfg)
• 48 bit Linear Congruential Generator (lcg)
• 64 bit Linear Congruential Generator (lcg64)
• Combined Multiple Recursive Generator (cmrg)
• Prime Modulus Linear Congruential Generator
(pmlcg) (this one is not automatically installed)
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 Hardware generators
• A hardware (true) random number generator is a
piece of electronics that plugs into a computer and
produces genuine random numbers - as opposed to
the pseudo-random numbers that are produced by
a computer program. A typical method is to
amplify noise generated by a resistor or a semi-
conductor diode and feed this to a comparator or
Schmitt trigger. If you sample the output (not too
quickly) you (hope to) get a series of bits which
are statistically independent. These can be
assembled into bytes, integers or floating point
numbers and then, if necessary, into random
numbers from other distributions using methods.
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 The Marsaglia CD-ROM
• George Marsaglia produced a CD-ROM containing 600
megabytes of random numbers. These were produced using the
best pseudo-random number generators, but were then combined
bytes from a variety of random sources or semi-random sources
(such as rap music).
• Suppose X and Y are independent random bytes (integer values 0
to 255), and at least one of them is uniformly distributed over the
values 0 to 255. Then both the bitwise exclusive-or of X and Y,
and X+Y mod 256, are uniformly distributed over 0 to 255. In
addition if both X and Y are approximately uniformly distributed,
then the combination will be more closely uniformly distributed.
• In the Marsaglia CD-ROM the idea is to get the excellent
properties of the pseudo-random number generator but to break
up any remaining patterns with the random or semi-random
generators.
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 Transformations
• We now have an idea of how to generate a uniform
probability distribution, so that the probability of
generating a number between x and x + dx, denoted p(x)dx,
is given by
• p(x)dx = dx 0 < x < 1
• 0 otherwise
• Now suppose that we generate a uniform deviate x and
then take some prescribed
• function of it, y(x). The probability distribution of y,
denoted p(y)dy, is determined
• by the fundamental transformation law of probabilities,
which is simply
• |p(y)dy| = |p(x)dx| or p(y) = p(x) dxdy

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 Exponential
• As an example, suppose that y(x) ≡ −ln(x), and
that p(x) is as given by a uniform deviate. Then
• p(y)dy = |dx/dy| dy = e−y dy
which is distributed exponentially. This exponential
distribution occurs frequently in real problems,
usually as the distribution of waiting times
between independent Poisson-random events, for
example the radioactive decay of nuclei.

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 Gaussian
• Another example is the Box-Muller method
for generating random deviates with a
normal (Gaussian) distribution,
• p(y)dy =1/√2π e−y2 /2 dy

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 Gaussian

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 Gaussian

Since this is the product of a function of y2 alone and a function

of y1 alone, each y is independently distributed according to the
normal distribution

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 Gaussian
One further trick is useful: suppose that, instead of
picking uniform deviates x1 and x2 in the unit square,
we instead pick v1 and v2 as the ordinate and abscissa of
a random point inside the unit circle around the origin.
Then the sum of their squares, R2 ≡ v12 + v22 is a uniform
deviate, which can be used for x1, while the angle that
(v1, v2) defines with respect to the v1 axis can serve as
the random angle 2πx2.

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 Finding Pi
• Choose a random point in the unit square by
finding two random numbers (x1, x2).
• If this point lies inside the unit circle, consider the
choice a ‘hit’, if not, a ‘miss’.
• Compute the area of a circle by finding the ratio of
hits to the total number of points chosen, N.
• Write an OpenMP code to do this calculation

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 Finding Pi
• Does it matter (e.g. timing) whether each
thread calculates its own random sequence
or if a master dishes out the random points?
• How does the error scale with N?

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