XPost: sci.math.num-analysis   
   From: david.brown@hesbynett.no   
      
   On 19/02/2026 23:39, Keith Thompson wrote:   
   > David Brown  writes:   
   > [...]   
   >> As a deterministic function, a PRNG will obviously follow the pattern   
   >> of its generating function.  But the aim is to have no /discernible/   
   >> pattern.  The sequence 3, 4, 2, 1, 1, 7, 0, 6, 7 has no pattern that   
   >> could be identified without knowledge of where they came from - and   
   >> thus no way to predict the next number, 9, in the sequence.  But there   
   >> is a pattern there - it's the 90th - 100th digits of the decimal   
   >> expansion of pi.   
   > [...]   
   >   
   > A Google search for 342117067 gives numerous hits referring to the   
   > digits of pi.   
   >   
      
   That is using knowledge of where the sequence comes from - something   
   else's knowledge rather than your own, but it's the same principle.   
      
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