In addition, Microsoft said Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3), a major update expected sometime in the first half of 2008, includes fixes that address the random number generator problem.

Microsoft Excel can do a lot of cool things. If you need it to generate random numbers, Susan Harkins can show you how.

Here’s how the issue manifests, per The Globe and Mail: Excel uses pseudo-random number generators, a class of algorithms that rely on formulas to generate numbers.

[Karl] was in need of a hardware random number generator, but is needs had a few caveats: it needed to be cheap, and sufficiently random. Random number generation can get quite crazy with Geiger ...

What does random number generator actually mean? Find out inside PCMag's comprehensive tech and computer-related encyclopedia.

When you use a machine to generate a “random” number, then, what you’re actually getting is almost certainly a “pseudorandom” number – something that looks random, but technically isn’t.