Random-number generation on digital computers

Random sampling methods are valuable not only for providing solutions to problems involving probability but also for solving many problems that are deterministic in nature. Haphazard generation of numbers has several serious disadvantages, since the numbers used in the computation cannot be reproduced and thus rational ``debugging´´ procedures cannot be developed. Over the past 20 years there has been a strong emphasis on arithmetic generators, which are based on recurrence relations involving integers.