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Built-in Mathematica Symbol

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SeedRandom

SeedRandom[n]
resets the pseudorandom generator, using n as a seed.

SeedRandom[]
resets the generator, using as a seed the time of day and certain attributes of the current Mathematica session.

MORE INFORMATION

You can use SeedRandom[n] to make sure you get the same sequence of pseudorandom numbers on different occasions.

SeedRandom affects RandomInteger, RandomReal, RandomComplex, RandomPrime, RandomChoice and RandomSample.

SeedRandom[Method->"method"] specifies what method should be used for the pseudorandom generator.

SeedRandom[n, Method->"method"] resets the generator, specifying both a seed and the method to use.

SeedRandom[n] affects only the current generator; SeedRandom[n, Method->All] affects all generators for which seeds have been given.

Typical possible methods include:

	"Congruential"	linear congruential generator (low-quality randomness)
	"ExtendedCA"	extended cellular automaton generator (default)
	"Legacy"	default generators from before Mathematica 6.0
	"MersenneTwister"	Mersenne twister shift register generator
	"MKL"	Intel MKL generator (Intel-based systems)
	"Rule30CA"	Wolfram Rule 30 generator

Different methods may give sequences with different levels of randomness.

Basic Examples (1)

Use SeedRandom to make random numbers repeatable:

Applications (2)

BlockRandom RandomInteger RandomReal RandomComplex RandomChoice RandomSample RandomPrime AbsoluteTime Hash

Pseudorandom Numbers

Random Number Generation

Demonstrations with SeedRandom (Wolfram Demonstrations Project)

NKS|Online (A New Kind of Science)

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