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NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS REPORT

3370

Generation and Testing of Pseudo-random Numbers

by

Olga Taussky and John Todd

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS
U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

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NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS

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NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS REPORT

NBS PROJECT NBS REPORT

1102-10-1 10^ June 22, 195^

Generation and Testing of Pseudo-random Numbers

by

Olga Taussky and John Todd

<NBS>

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS

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unless permission! 25 , D.C, Such pe

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Approved for public release by the

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3370
- r

.
Generation and Testing of Pseudo-random Numbers

Olga Taussky and John Todd

National Bureau of Standards

1 . INTRODUCTION

We shall confine our attention to generation and testing of

sequences of pseudo-random numbers by arithmetical* processes on

automatic high speed digital computers e We shall also confine our

attention mainly to a uniform distribution** of random numbers

not random digits*** The approximation of normal deviates and

other random variates by polynomials in uniform variates has been

discussed in detail by Teichroew [I 3 ]j for other methods e 0 g s?

acceptance or rejection methods, see von Neumann [6, 36-38] and

Votaw and Rafferty [l6] e We also confine our attention to the results of testing, not to

the design of tests 0 Apart from the "quality" of the number generated we are mainly concerned with the speed of production c Thgj^^seems to be no published information about the testing O f

o^pKysicSl. processes incorporated in automatic high speed computers

such as the Ferranti or ERA machines 0 **For practical purposes we have found it satisfactory to approximate

a normal deviate by the addition of some 8 or 12 uniform deviates;:

for a report on experiments concerning this, see Cameron and Newman

[ 3 ]. See also Juncosa [ 17] 0 *** The following caution is necessary. It might be supposed that the

digits in particular fixed positions of pseudo-random numbers would

be satisfactory pseudo-random digits. Tests carried out by Juncosa

[

|

7] show that this is not the case; sequences which were very good

pseudo-random numbers, gave rise to sequences of pseudo-random digits

which could at best be classed as fair.
-2

-

The written words about this topic seem to begin with Lehmer’s

paper [7] presented at Harvard l4 September 1 9^+9 ? shortly followed

by Mauchly’s paper [ 8 ] presented to the American Statistical Association on 29 December 19^9) . A fairly comprehensive account was

included in a thesis of Teichroew [13] „ Lehmer’s definition of a pseudo-random sequence is worth repeating

it is ?, a vague notion embodying the idea of a sequence in which each

term is unpredictable to the uninitiated and whose digits pass a certain number of tests, traditional with statisticians and depending

somewhat on the uses to which the sequence is to be put,”

2, MID-SQUARE METHODS

Lehmer mentioned the so-called mid-square method used on

the ENIAC and due to von Neumann and Metropolis [see N 0 Metropolis

(10)], This can be described as follows, in a special case. Take

a 4 digit number x 0 , e 0 g s x

q = 206 1 0 Square it to obtain 0

If2)+7721 0 Define x^ = 2

I+77? the middle four digits of x

q ^

0 Next x^ = 06135529

and x^ = 1355. Similarly x^ = 8360 , x^ = 8896 , etc.

The detailed steps necessary to obtain x^ , for instance, on SEAC,

the National Bureau of Standards Eastern Automatic Computer are as

follows: Take the low product of x

Q by itself to obtain 7721 5 then take the high product of this by 0100 to obtain 0077 o Take the

high product of x

q

by itself to obtain 0*+2^$ then take the low product of this by 0100 to obtain 2^00 o Add 0077 and 2^00 to obtain
-3-

= 2477. This process can be shortened and speeded up in the

case of machines which have e,g o) shift-orders.

For the results of some tests on numbers generated this way see

Mauchly [8] and Votaw and Rafferty [l6]. For tests carried out

by punched card equipment see Hammer [6, p. 33 ]

, and Forsythe [6,

PP. 3^-35]. Satisfactory results have been obtained by these methods

in certain cases.

3o CONGRUENTIAL METHODS - MULTIPLICATIVE

These also are first mentioned by Lehmer, He used the

relation

x ... = k x (mod M)

n+ 1 n

o with k = 23, M = 10° + 1 for ENIAC. This sequence produces 8-decimal

digit numbers with period 5882352. The choice of 23 is best possible

for this modulus in so far as that no larger multiplier produces

a longer period and no smaller multiplier produces a period more than

half as long.

Tests on 5000 numbers generated this way were carried out, using

punched card equipment by L. E. Cunningham, and they were found

satisfactory.

In using ENIAC it was possible to sample these pseudo-random numbers at random; this additional precautionary measure is not convenient on other machines.
In 1950, when the National Bureau of Standards Eastern Automatic

Computer came into operation it was decided to carry out a series of

experiments in the Monte Carlo method: solution of partial differential equations [ 1 5 ] ? inverting of matrices LI 1*], etc, For these

experiments we have used random numbers generated as follows:

(1) x0

~ x

n+1 “ f

x

n

(mod 2

1* 2

)

where

^

is any odd power of 5. In practice

^

= 5 , (the largest

power of 5 acceptable by the machine) and x

q

could be any integer

1+0 "l 2 satisfying x = 1 (mod 5). This sequence has period 2

^

10

It is generated by a single order: low multiplication.

We shall now illustrate the behavior of a similar sequence in a simple case. We take the residues mod 2^ of powers of 5j these have

period 16. They are, in decimal notation,

1, 5, 25 , 61 , b9 9 53, 9, **5, 33, 37, 57, 29 , 17, 21 , ^1

, 13, Ivor in binary

000001 , 000101 , 011001 , 111101 , 110001 , 110101 , 001001 , 101101 , 100001 , 100101 , 111001 , 011101 , 010001 , 010101 , 101001 , 001 101 . M#

We note that the period of the digits in a particular position

in numbers increases as we move to the lefts the last binary digit

is always 1, the next is always zero, the next is alternatively 0

and 1, the next has period h, and so on, In the case of the numbers

(1) it is only the digit in the ^2nd place which has the full

1+0 period 2 , This phenomenon was noted by R 0 Kersh and J. B 0 Rosser.
-

5- •

In practice this behavior is not troublesbme, for we usually only

require random numbers with a few binary digits. For instance,

in the case of random walks on a plane lattice [15] we have to

decide in which of the intervals

the random number lies, and we therefore only use the first two

binary digits.

A set of 16,38^ of these numbers ( not individual digits! were

subjected to a series of tests [1], £2]. The results obtained

indicate that this sequence is satisfactory; they are described

in § b below.

Later, similar processes were used for other machines. Teichroew

used on SWAC the numbers produced by

[ 0 , £),[{:, |), [J, £), [£, 1 ]

has period

2

7

,5

8 - 5 x 10 7

for ^

= 7. This sequence is suitable for use in the CARAC

The sequence

= 5^ x

n

(3.2) Xq any odd number, (mod 2^)
-6-

* 17 ^ any odd number, x , ^ = 5 x (mod 2

o

7 n+ 1 n

has been used on EDVAC [17]*

The sequence

X = 1, X H = r^k+1

x ( m0 d 10^)

o ’ n+ 1 n

is suitable for UNIVAC. The period for this is

5 x io 8„

These have been tested by J 0 Moshman [9]. Moshman examined

a

(the first six digits of) 10,000 numbers as/whole, and in groups

of 2 , 000 . Reasonable results were obtained, apart from the sixth

digit, which appeared n too random 11 . An account of processes for

obtaining pseudorandom numbers on ENIAC, for which the convenient

5 10 moduli are 10 y and 10 , are given by Juncosa [17].

A systematic account of the periods of sequences obtained by

congruence methods has been given by Duparc, Lekkerkerker and

Peremans (1953). We shall not attempt to summarize this paper.

h. RESULTS OF TESTS

A series of tests on the numbers generated on SEAC by the

relation (3.1) were carried out in collaboration with J 0 M 0 Cameron

and B. F. Handy, Jr.,[i ]. A summary of the results obtained is

given below: all these results are satisfactory.
A. Frequency Test

a) of all 16,384 numbers (32 intervals) . Test of goodness of

fit to rectangular distribution;

X

2 = 22.l8,d.f. = 31 , Pr{ > 22.18}= .9;

b) of 128 sets of 128 numbers

of fit of 128 values of

(32 intervals). Test of goodness

to the 7C2 distributions

?C

2 = 8.07 , d.f. = 7, Pr{71 2

> 8 . 07}= 0 3.

B. Conformance of distribution of certain statistics to expectation

Observed Expected

Statistic averaae* averaae

Observed

variance*

Expected

variance

^ X

±

/1 28 >9829 50000 .000 6792 .000 6510

^x^/128 .33163 33333 .000 7344 .000 6944

2(x ix

i+ 1 )2/* 16708

" 16536 .000 8272 .000 3869

*Based on 128 values.

Distribution of mean

Goodness-of-f it test of

x

±

/I 28 )

means to

should be approximately normal,

normal distribution gave;

t

2 = 5.87 , d.f. = 9, pv\2 2

> 5 . 87}= .75.

C. Runs ud and down

Lenath of run 1 2 3 4

Any

^ ^ length

Observed average*

number of runs

425.3 187.9 55.4 10.4 2.7 681.8

Expected average

number of runs

426.8 187.5 53 . 9. 11.7 2.4 682.3

Observed variance

of number of runs

400.9 97.3 24.1 15.2 2,1 181.7

Expected variance

of number of runs 433.3 115.2 42.8 10.9 2.4 181.0

*Based on 16 sets of 1024.

D. Runs above and below the mean Any

Lenath of run 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 lenath

Observed average*

? number of runs

122.4 65 .5 32.7 17.7 8.4 3 .9 1.9 1.1 .62 505.5

Expected

number of

average

runs <00

^

128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1 ,1 513

*Based on 16 sets of 1024.
- 8-

A further series of tests were carried out on numbers generated

on ORDVAC by the relation (3,2) by M. L. Juncosa [ 1 7 ] • Among these

was a test for serial correlation with lag 3. All results were

satisf actory

5. CONGRUENTIAL METHODS - ADDITIVE

The only practical reason to search further for processes to

generate random numbers is to gain speed* The obvious suggestion

is to try using addition instead of multiplication* This has been

discussed by Duparc, Lekkerkerker and Peremans [4], For instance,

consider the (reduced) Fibonacci sequence

F

0

= °, F

1 = 1

J F

n+ 2 = F

n+1

+ F

n

(mod M) n = 0,1,... .

1+4

If we take M = 2 , as is appropriate for SEAC, we find that the

Fibonacci sequence has period

3 x 2.5 x lO 1 ^

The speed of generation, and the period of these numbers seem satisfactory* However, the numbers are obviously not independent*

41+

The reduction mod 2 is accomplished merely by disregarding

overflow in the addition

F = F + f n+2 n+1 n

SEAC operates with numbers of 44 binary digits* To illustrate

the behavior of this type of sequence consider the simple case

M = 2^: the resulting sequence has period 12 and is obtained by

repetition of

0?^ * 1 ?2,3,5 ? 0,5,5?2,7?i
-

9-

The following heuristic arguments indicate that the sequence

may, nevertheless, give satisfactory pseudo-random numbers. It

is well known that if f = 0, f. = 1; then

o

7

i 7

f

n =Oi n-/)/^

where

= £ (V5 + 1), £ (-v5 +1)

Now, clearly,

L.I. F = f (mod 2 )

n n

but, since ^ < 1, we have

F = (/\.

nA5) (mod 2^)

and we are again dealing with residues of powers.

We therefore began an investigation of this system. Some of

the results obtained to date are reported in detail in the next

sections here we summarize our results. The sequence f gave

satisfactory results as far as the frequency and moment test were

concerned; however, the results for runs were unsatisfactory,

there being a preponderance of runs of length 2. This suggested

that instead we use the sequence f

F )of alternate members of

the sequence ^

nJ

. The results of the frequency, moments and

run test appear satisfactory, but not as good as the power residues.

6. RESULTS OF SOME TESTS ON THE REDUCED FIBONACCI SEQUENCE

At present we have not completed a comprehensive series of

tests. We report some of the results obtained; a full report

will appear in [2],
- 10-

A. Frequency test

The distribution of three sets of 1638^ numbers’] ^2

intervals were the following:

516,462, 525, 507,506,51 6, 512,517, 487, 488, 466, 506,512,482, 538,

539,558,487,523,503,519,524,512,519,509,522,551,522,501,508,

524,523.

513.499.508.497.507.563.525.511.534.487.500.542.497.506.545,

491,521,505,503,515,480,487,491,510,501,548,525,540,522,494,

430,537.

561 .533.488.520.514.551 .493. 504.492. 509. 513. 482. 549.516.546,

531,503,522,536,511,540,483,530,473,504,515,504,479,469,526,

503,484.

The corresponding values oi^ are

JU.tr, 27J£j 3* 1J, d. ^-*-31.

B. Moments

^

Here are ten sets of values of the moments of 128 numbers of

\ »

• the sequence F . n

.5073 . 5169 . 5518 . 5104 . 4819 . 5051 .4912 . 4562 . 5028 . 4907

.3414 .3474 .3896 .3409 .3087 .3356 .3265 .2840 .3321 .3316 t^/nz

.2594 .2620 .3032 .2549 .2222 .2492 .2439. .2013 .2469 .2533 2

.2103 .2100 .2486 .2028 .1712 .1968 .1937 .1532 .1964 .2062 2*f//xr

.1922 .1495 .1581 .1596 .1559 .1705 .1656 .1512 .1421 .1920 z^-y^/ng

.1664 .1813 .1776 .1538 .1332 .1687 .1813 .1469 .1733 .1608

.1641 .1762 .1940 .1674 .1676 .1698 .1763 .1721 .1601 .1850 z. O'L -y.iS/,*

.1752 .1465 .2191 .1574 .1518 .1417 .1636 .1628 .1737 .1696

* Tta. H**h*X^C**A- iv-t ;

‘ 3333 , ’IS&Qj • i H t f

lt> 28-

t /6/S~
- 11 -

C. RUNS UP AND DOWN

Ini the table below the first three columns record the numbers

of runs up and down in a series of three sets of 1024 numbers of

the sequence KV the next three columns give similar results for

the sequence ; the last column gives the theoretical expected

results

F

n

F2n

UP 1 87 83 80 206 211 204 213 ,

:k

2 112 118 112 77 96 107 9318

3 35 36 30 i+4 24 23 27.0

4 11 9 17 8 5 3 5 A

5 5 6 5 0 2 0 J

6 1 0 3 0 0 0 1 .2

7 1 1 0 0 0 0

8 1 1 1 0 0 0

DOWN 1 79 84 76 213 199 200 213.

2 116 119 119 89 101 99 93.8

3 40 32 29 24 31 31 27.0

12 10 17 9 6 7 5.3

5 6 6 7 0 0 1 6 1 2 1 0 0 0 1 .2

7 0 1 0 0 0 0

8 0 1 0 0 0 0

D. RUNS ABOVE and BELOW THE MEANS

In the table below we record the number of runs above and below

the mean in a series of six sets of 1024 numbers of the sequence^ ; the last column gives the theoretical expected results, J ABOVE 1 134 140 133 125 128 132 128

2 52 48 5^ 64 52 44 64

3 45 32 45 38 30 48 32

4 16 28 16 27 35 23 16

5 10 10 11 9 10 11 8

6 0 3 4 3 2 2 4

7 0 0 1 1 0 0 3

8 1 0 0 0 0 0 z
12-

BELOW 1 119 1^1 154 150 137 1 34- 128

2 55 36 53 47 56 64

3 ^5 42 38 39 44 32

4 22 14 19 18 26 16 16

5 10 13 10 6 7 9 8

6 1 2 3 1 2 2 4

7 1 2 0 0 0 0 2

8 0 0 0 0 0 0 2,

The numbers of the observed averages CN •H C a series of 16 sets of

102^ numbers from

^2n 1' with runs above and below the mean of

the same le ngth added, were

Length: 1 2 3 4 5 6 •N3 00 Observed count: 261 .9 103 .4 82 4-3.1 13.9 4.6 .9 0 1 Theoretical count: 256 128 64- 32 16 8 4 4

The observed averages , in a series of 16 set s oi 1 024- numbers

from [^ 2 n

j) with the runs up and down of the same length added

together were:

Length: 1 2 3^5

Observed count: *+25,6 I 87 .I 58.9 10.6 1„32

Theoretical count: 1+26„8 187.5 53»9 11.7 2.4

7. MISCELLANEOUS METHODS

7.1 Forsythe

the generation of

Take four "random”

these numbers, as

10 11

10 0 1 0 110

10 11

[5] discusses a scheme suggested by Rosser for

random digits. We describe a simple example,

numbers with say 3 ,^+,5,7 binary digits and repeat

indicated below:

0110110110110110 ... 1001100110011001 ... 001 10001 10001 100 coo 0110110110110110 000
- 13-

The first line contains repetitions of the number 101 , the second

repetitions of 1001, and so on, Consider the sequence obtained by

adding (modulo 2) successive columns of this array 0 This is

11111010100000010101 ... This sequence has period not greater than 3x*+x5x7 = ^20 o Forsythe

examined on SWAC, the National Bureau of Standards Western Automatic

Computer, a series of 1217370 digits obtained in this way from four

random numbers with 31 > 33 ? 3^ and 35 binary digits G Among the

tests which he applied was the followings let s. be the sum of 100

J consecutive digits, then he examined twelve groups each of 1000

sums s.. Of these eleven were in reasonable fit with the theoretical

binomial distribution; the twelfth was a bad fit 0 7.2 The sequence of digits in certain algebraic and transcendental

numbers have been tested, For a summary and references see Teichroew

[13]. Some pass and some do not pass the standard test e,g 9 , e is

apparently bad, Apart from the difficulty in generating these, this

seems sufficient reason to discard this method.

We note here that Richtmyer [11] has used algebraic numbers in

connection with a quasi-Monte Carlo problem on SEAC, Roughly

speaking, an integral is evaluated by "systematic" sampling at points

depending on certain quadratic surds; satisfactory deterministic

error bounds can be obtained from the theory of algebraic numbers,

7.3 In certain recent investigations e 0 g 0 , in connection with

the assignment problem, the generating of random permutations has
- 14-

become of interest. It is possible to use any of the pseudorandom sequence described above to generate pseudo-random permutations,* More direct constructions have been suggested by T, S 0 Motzkin and D„ H, Lehmer,

X *«. f.n. <** L i. -
- 15-

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1 . J. M. Cameron, Results on some tests of randomness on pseudorandom numbers 0 Abstract in Annals Math, Statistics 23,

(1952), p. 138,

2. J. M. Cameron, M. Newman, 0. Taussky, J, Todd, The generation

and testing of pseudo-random number^on SEAC,[J, Washington Academy of Sciences, 195*+

3. J. M. Cameron and M_, Newman, The generation of normal deviates

on SEAC, [J, Washington Academy of Sciences, 19

1+?3

H, J, A.Duparc , C ,G, Lekkerkerker and W, Peremans, Reduced sequences

of integers and pe sudo-random numbers, Math, Centrum,

Amsterdam, Report ZW 1953“002 (also Report ZW 1952-013).

5. G. E, Forsythe, Generation and testing of 1,217*370 random Binary

digits on SWAC. Bull, American Math, Soc. 57(1951)

p. 304.

6. G. E. Forsythe, H. H. Germond and A. S, Householder, editors,

Monte Carlo Method, NBS Applied Mathematics Series 12,

U. S. Government Printing Office (1951 )

7. D. H, Lehmer, Mathematical methods on large-scale computing units,

Harvard University Computation Laboratory, Annals 26

(1951), 1 ^ 1 -6 , 8. J, W. Mauchly, Pseudo-random numbers, presented to American

Statistical Association, 29 Dec, 19^9.

9. J. Moshman, The generation of pseudo-random numbers on a decimal

calculator, Journal Association for Computing Machinery

1(19

L0, pp. 88-91 , 10. N. Metropolis, this volume

11. R. D. Richtmyer, The evaluation of definite integrals, and a quasi-Monte Carlo method based on the properties of

algebraic numbers, Los Alamos report 13 Oct, 1951.

12. I. A. Stegun and W. J, Youden, The location of the mean in random

samples from a normal population, [to appear in Journal

Washington Academy of Science

7,J
-16-

13. D. Teichroew, Distribution sampling with high speed computers,

ift. J 0 Todd, Experiments on the inversion of a 16x16 matrix in

simultaneous linear equations and the determination of

eigenvalues, National Bureau of Standards Applied

Mathematics Series 29 (U. 5. Government Printing Office,

1953) pp. 113-115.

15. J. Todd, Experiments in the solution of a differential equation

by Monte Carlo methods, &. Washington Academy of Science

(195*0 L

16. D. F, Votaw, Jr., and J. A. Rafferty, High speed sampling, MTAC

5(1 951 5 9 PPo 1-8.

17. M. L. Juncosa, Random number generation on the BRL high-speed

computing machines. Ballistic Research Lab. Report

855 , 195^. Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.

18. H. A. Meyer, L. S. Gephart, N. L. Rasmussen, On the generation

and testing of random digits, Wright Air Development

Center, Tech. Report 5ft~55j 195ft.
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