
The Random Number Grand Challenge - cing
https://www.kaggle.com/c/random-number-grand-challenge
======
arjn
Waaah! ... several minutes later and I realize what it is by glancing at the
start-end date/timestamps.

Even the book they linked to seems odd, including all the review statements.

~~~
Someone
The book is real
([http://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1418.html](http://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1418.html),
[http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monograph_reports/...](http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1418/MR1418.deviates.pdf))

It is the reference set of random digits.

~~~
Pitarou
I tried implementing a Mersenne Twister, and the numbers I got were completely
different from that book. Didn't I use enough entropy? Where can I get some
from?

~~~
TophWells
Did you get Numberwang?

------
coldtraveller
It took me way too long to realise that was a joke...the prize allocation is
pretty special though :)

------
johnvschmitt
I always thought the best random number generator was:

Take a large Pseudo random #, & add that (in hours) to your current time. Pick
a large enough pseudo space to cover 10+ years. Then, read that combined time
in microseconds. This combines a real randomness (your current microseconds)
that spans all space.

That would cover a very large space in a very random fashion.

The attacker would have to know your computed time to narrow it down, but
couldn't narrow it down much at all, since it's combined with the large pseudo
random #.

The problem with most Pseudo's is that they are sparse, leaving too much space
unhit.

------
rohanprabhu
I am feeling so stupid right now. I thought I will use artificial neural
networks to predict random numbers. Cringing so bad...

------
shultays
"If there is one thing the working data scientist can do, it is extract
insights from a sea of randomness."

------
jboggan
Obligatory: [http://xkcd.com/221/](http://xkcd.com/221/)

~~~
nness
Also obligatory:
[http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2001-10-25/](http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2001-10-25/)

------
dfc
And it begins. I hate April Fools Day. I have never understood why deceiving
someone is comical.

~~~
hadoukenio
Follow the money.

These days, April Fools has turned into a marketing gravy train. Do something
cheap and mildly amusing, and the press will lap it up for free.

~~~
sharkweek
No no -- as someone who works in marketing, let me assure you, 99% of
attempted April Fools jokes go, for the benefit of everyone, completely
unnoticed.

------
aaron695
April Fools finished 4 hours ago for me so I don't really find this funny at
all.

I feel kinda annoyed that I looked at what superficially looked like a
interesting problem. Can you find the algorithm given pseudorandom random
numbers? Can you find any sort of pattern? Interesting stuff that's all within
the realms of the possible.

I understand why people in the Kaggle community would enjoy it, you visit
their site and see a funny joke, it helps build community.

Not so funny when you get sent straight there.

~~~
thejosh
Because it ended for you means noone else finds it funny eh.

------
IvyMike
Restate my assumptions: One, Mathematics is the language of nature. Two,
Everything around us can be represented and understood through numbers. Three:
If you graph the numbers of any system, patterns emerge. Therefore, there are
patterns everywhere in nature. Evidence: The cycling of disease epidemics;the
wax and wane of caribou populations; sun spot cycles; the rise and fall of the
Nile. So, what about the stock market? The universe of numbers that represents
the global economy. Millions of hands at work, billions of minds. A vast
network, screaming with life. An organism. A natural organism. My hypothesis:
Within the stock market, there is a pattern as well... Right in front of me...
hiding behind the numbers. Always has been.

~~~
IvyMike
This comment had an interesting score trajectory.

It's a quote from the movie "Pi", which has a protagonist who goes mad trying
to find order in randomness. Which is kind of the point of the linked story,
too.

The comment went up to 6 when I first posted it, and it's now at negative 2.
Maybe morning folks think April Fools is serious business.

(Admittedly it's a fluff comment that I would not normally post but on the
other hand it's no more fluffy than the story itself.)

