Extremely Portable Random Number Generator

Extremely portable subroutines are sometimes
needed for which moderate quality and efficiency 
suffice.  Typically, this occurs for library functions
(like random number generation and in core sorting) 
which are not entirely universal or are not used in a
standardized way.  The literature on random number 
generators does not seem to contain an algorithm that
meets requirements of this sort.  An extremely 
portable 8-line FORTRAN program is provided which based
on an important paper by Coveyou and MacPherson 
(1967)sing their methods, Fourier analysis is applied
to the probability function for the consecutive 
n-tuples provided by our generator (with n less than
or equal to 4).  While the small modulus which must 
be used to maintain portability prevents the quality
of the generator from being high, the generator 
compares well with the bounds established in the above mentioned paper.

CACM February, 1969

Kruskal, J. B.

random number generators, random numbers, random
number analysis, random generators, linear sequential 
generators, random number program, pseudo random numbers 

4.49 5.19 5.5

CA690208 JB February 20, 1978  10:43 AM

1930	5	1930
1930	5	1930
1930	5	1930
2115	5	1930
1691	6	1930
1930	6	1930