Random walkIn mathematics, a random walk is a random process that describes a path that consists of a succession of random steps on some mathematical space. An elementary example of a random walk is the random walk on the integer number line which starts at 0, and at each step moves +1 or −1 with equal probability. Other examples include the path traced by a molecule as it travels in a liquid or a gas (see Brownian motion), the search path of a foraging animal, or the price of a fluctuating stock and the financial status of a gambler.
HypercubeIn geometry, a hypercube is an n-dimensional analogue of a square (n = 2) and a cube (n = 3). It is a closed, compact, convex figure whose 1-skeleton consists of groups of opposite parallel line segments aligned in each of the space's dimensions, perpendicular to each other and of the same length. A unit hypercube's longest diagonal in n dimensions is equal to . An n-dimensional hypercube is more commonly referred to as an n-cube or sometimes as an n-dimensional cube.
Hypercubic honeycombIn geometry, a hypercubic honeycomb is a family of regular honeycombs (tessellations) in n-dimensional spaces with the Schläfli symbols {4,3...3,4} and containing the symmetry of Coxeter group R_n (or B^~_n–1) for n ≥ 3. The tessellation is constructed from 4 n-hypercubes per ridge. The vertex figure is a cross-polytope {3...3,4}. The hypercubic honeycombs are self-dual. Coxeter named this family as δ_n+1 for an n-dimensional honeycomb. A Wythoff construction is a method for constructing a uniform polyhedron or plane tiling.
Gamma distributionIn probability theory and statistics, the gamma distribution is a two-parameter family of continuous probability distributions. The exponential distribution, Erlang distribution, and chi-squared distribution are special cases of the gamma distribution. There are two equivalent parameterizations in common use: With a shape parameter and a scale parameter . With a shape parameter and an inverse scale parameter , called a rate parameter. In each of these forms, both parameters are positive real numbers.
6-cubeIn geometry, a 6-cube is a six-dimensional hypercube with 64 vertices, 192 edges, 240 square faces, 160 cubic cells, 60 tesseract 4-faces, and 12 5-cube 5-faces. It has Schläfli symbol {4,34}, being composed of 3 5-cubes around each 4-face. It can be called a hexeract, a portmanteau of tesseract (the 4-cube) with hex for six (dimensions) in Greek. It can also be called a regular dodeca-6-tope or dodecapeton, being a 6-dimensional polytope constructed from 12 regular facets.
Erlang distributionThe Erlang distribution is a two-parameter family of continuous probability distributions with support . The two parameters are: a positive integer the "shape", and a positive real number the "rate". The "scale", the reciprocal of the rate, is sometimes used instead. The Erlang distribution is the distribution of a sum of independent exponential variables with mean each. Equivalently, it is the distribution of the time until the kth event of a Poisson process with a rate of .
Random number generationRandom number generation is a process by which, often by means of a random number generator (RNG), a sequence of numbers or symbols that cannot be reasonably predicted better than by random chance is generated. This means that the particular outcome sequence will contain some patterns detectable in hindsight but unpredictable to foresight. True random number generators can be hardware random-number generators (HRNGs), wherein each generation is a function of the current value of a physical environment's attribute that is constantly changing in a manner that is practically impossible to model.
8-cubeIn geometry, an 8-cube is an eight-dimensional hypercube. It has 256 vertices, 1024 edges, 1792 square faces, 1792 cubic cells, 1120 tesseract 4-faces, 448 5-cube 5-faces, 112 6-cube 6-faces, and 16 7-cube 7-faces. It is represented by Schläfli symbol {4,36}, being composed of 3 7-cubes around each 6-face. It is called an octeract, a portmanteau of tesseract (the 4-cube) and oct for eight (dimensions) in Greek. It can also be called a regular hexdeca-8-tope or hexadecazetton, being an 8-dimensional polytope constructed from 16 regular facets.
/dev/randomIn Unix-like operating systems, and are s that serve as cryptographically secure pseudorandom number generators. They allow access to environmental noise collected from device drivers and other sources. typically blocked if there was less entropy available than requested; more recently (see below for the differences between operating systems) it usually blocks at startup until sufficient entropy has been gathered, then unblocks permanently.
Randomized algorithmA randomized algorithm is an algorithm that employs a degree of randomness as part of its logic or procedure. The algorithm typically uses uniformly random bits as an auxiliary input to guide its behavior, in the hope of achieving good performance in the "average case" over all possible choices of random determined by the random bits; thus either the running time, or the output (or both) are random variables.