# Random number book

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Cryptology tool

Lines 10580–10594, columns 21–40, from *[A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates](/source/A_Million_Random_Digits_with_100%2C000_Normal_Deviates)*

A **random number book** is a [book](/source/Book) whose main content is a large number of [random numbers](/source/Random_number) or random digits. These books were used in early [cryptography](/source/Cryptography) and [experimental design](/source/Experimental_design), and were published by the [RAND Corporation](/source/Rand_Corporation)[1] and others. The RAND Corporation book *[A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates](/source/A_Million_Random_Digits_with_100%2C000_Normal_Deviates)* was first published in 1955 and was reissued in 2001. A sequel, *A Million And One Random Digits* was published in 2022. Tables of random numbers have probably been used for multiple purposes at least since the Industrial Revolution. A table of random numbers was made by L.H.C. Tippett. [2]

Random number books have been rendered obsolete for most purposes by the ready availability of [random number generators](/source/Random_number_generator) running on [electronic computers](/source/Electronic_computer). However, they still have niche uses, particularly in the performance of [experimental music](/source/Experimental_music) pieces that call for them, such as *Vision* (1959) and *Poem* (1960) by [La Monte Young](/source/La_Monte_Young).[3]

## See also

- [One-time pad](/source/One-time_pad)

- [Random number table](/source/Random_number_table)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["Random Number Book"](https://web.archive.org/web/20140312212339/http://j-walkblog.com/index.php?%2Fweblog%2Fposts%2Frandom_number_book%2F). Archived from [the original](http://j-walkblog.com/index.php?/weblog/posts/random_number_book/) on 12 March 2014. Retrieved 8 April 2012.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["NIST Randomness Beacon"](https://web.archive.org/web/20170713035202/https://www.nist.gov/programs-projects/nist-randomness-beacon). Archived from [the original](https://www.nist.gov/programs-projects/nist-randomness-beacon) on 13 July 2017.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["Following a Straight Line"](https://web.archive.org/web/20160304195915/http://www.users.waitrose.com/~chobbs/smithyoung.html). Archived from [the original](http://www.users.waitrose.com/~chobbs/smithyoung.html) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 29 August 2012.

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