Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Randomly |
RandomlyAdverb1. In a random manner; "the houses were randomly scattered"; "bullets were fired into the crowd at random". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "randomly" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1980. (references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
In ordinary language, the word random is used to express apparent lack of purpose or cause.Randomness should also not be confused with unpredictability, as demonstrated by the existence of deterministic chaos. As another example, the increase of the world human population is quite predictable, but individual births and deaths cannot be accurately predicted in many cases; this small-scale randomness is found in almost all real-world systems, if not as strikingly. Ohm's Law and the Kinetic Theory of Gases also depend on large-scale compliance with statistical rules which have no absolute reality.
Defining randomness is a hard problem in modern science, mathematics, psychology and philosophy.
Randomness in philosophy
Note that the bias that "everything has a purpose or cause" is actually implicit in the expression "apparent lack of purpose or cause". Humans are always looking for patterns in their experience, and the most basic pattern seems to be cause/effect. This appears to be deeply embedded in the human brain, and perhaps in other animals as well. For example, dogs and cats often have been reported to have apparently made a cause and effect connection that strikes us as amusing or peculiar. For instance there is a report of a dog who, after a visit to a vet whose clinic had tile floors of a particular kind, refused thereafter to go near such a tiled floor, whether or not it was at a vet's.
It is because of this bias that the absence of a cause seems problematic. See causation .
To solve this 'problem', random events are sometimes said to be caused by chance. Rather than solving the problem of randomness, this opens the gaping hole of the ontological status of chance. It is hard to avoid circularity by defining chance in terms of randomness.
Randomness in natural science
Traditionally, randomness takes on an operational meaning in natural science: something is apparently random if its cause cannot be determined or controlled. When an experiment is performed and all the control variables are fixed, the remaining variation is ascribed to uncontrolled (ie, 'random') influences. The assumption, again, is that if it were somehow possible to perfectly control all influences, the result of the experiment would be always the same. Therefore, for most of the history of science, randomness has been interpreted in one way or another as ignorance on the part of the observer.
With the advent of quantum mechanics, however, it appears that the world might be irreducibly random. According to the standard interpretations of the theory, it is possible (and in fact very, very easy) to set up an experiment with total control of all relevant parameters, which will still have a perfectly random outcome. The resistance to this idea takes the form of hidden variable theories in which the outcome of the experiment is determined by certain unobservable characteristics (hence the name "hidden variables").
Many physical processes resulting from quantum-mechanical effects are, therefore, believed to be irreducibly random. The best-known example is the timing of radioactive decay events in radioactive substances.
Randomness in mathematics
The mathematical theory of probability arose from attempts to formulate mathematical descriptions of chance events, originally in the context of gambling but soon in connection with situations of interest in physics. Statistics is used to deduce the underlying probability distribution of a collection of empirical observations.
For the purposes of simulation it is necessary to have a large supply of random numbers, or means to generate them on demand. Algorithmic information theory studies, among other topics, what constitutes a random sequence.
Randomness in practical communications
Access to a source of high-quality randomness is absolutely critical in many applications of cryptography. For example, even a subtly non-random key choice may result in a complete break into a communications channel that was believed to have been secure and was relied upon to be so. See the Enigma article for an example of the consequences of such a misestimate. Keys used for the Enigma were non-random in many cases which made it possible for Allied cryptanalysts to break into the traffic with substantial consequences for the Nazi war effort. A similar thing happened in the Pacific theater of WWII with the Japanese 'Purple' machine (qv); its key selection was also insufficiently random.
This is an attempt at fleshing out the stub below. Please contribute by picking bits from below the line and developing them above it
Randomness is central to games of chance and vital to the gambling industry. The book The Eudaemonic Pie (ISBN 0595142362) is the story of an attempt to exploit non-randomness in the gaming industry. Some of the students involved have gone on to significant careers in physics and in computer science.
Random draws are often used to make a decision where no rational or fair basis exists for making a deterministic decision.
Deviations from randomness are often regarded by parapsychologists as evidence for the theories of parapsychology.
Quotations:
Books:
- "Random numbers should not be generated with a method chosen at random." -- Donald E. Knuth
See also:
- Randomness by Deborah J. Bennett. Harvard University Press, 1998. ISBN 0674107454
- The Art of Computer Programming. Vol. 2: Seminumerical Algorithms, 3rd ed. by Donald E. Knuth, Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1997. ISBN 0-201-89684-2
External links:
- Chaos theory
- Determinism
- Free will
- Game theory
- Information entropy
- Probability theory
- Pseudorandomness
- Pseudorandom number generator
- Hardware random number generator
- Quantum mechanics
- Random variable
- Random number
- Random sequence
- Stochastic process
- Can you behave randomly?
- Random.org
- Chaitin: Randomness and Mathematical Proof
- A Pseudorandom Number Sequence Test Program (Public Domain)
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Randomness."
Synonyms: RandomlySynonyms: arbitrarily (adv), at random (adv), every which way (adv), haphazardly (adv), indiscriminately (adv), willy-nilly (adv). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Intention | Adverb: randomly, by chance, fortuitously; unpredictably, unforeseeably; casually; unintentionally; Adjective: unwittingly. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | We have randomly selected weapons to put in your kits, so you might get lucky, and you might not. (Batoru rowaiaru; writing credit: Kenta Fukasaku; Koshun Takami) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
 |
| "Self Portrait 1" by Christie Ortiz Commentary: "A self portrait i took by randomly aiming the camera. it was taken in my office & just as i was about to take it, my boss walked in..hehe." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| Play | Caption |
 | A big bottle or vase dropping and being broken letting its contents spill out randomly. |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | This process occurs randomly so that each cell is left with one active X chromosome. (references) | |
Atypical melanocytes may be absent or scant and randomly scattered through the lesion. (references) | ||
This study randomly assigned pairs of caregivers and relatives with dementia to either a treatment or a control group. (references) | ||
Economic History | Philippines | In spite of these government mechanisms directed at combating corruption, an October 2000 USAID-funded survey of more than 600 randomly selected Philippine and foreign-invested enterprises in the National Capital Region suggests that graft remains a serious problem at many levels in all branches of the Philippine Government. (references) |
Human Rights | Fiji | Trials in the High Court provide for the presence of assessors (citizens randomly selected to represent the community); cases in magistrate courts do not. (references) |
Algeria | Civilian and security force casualties at the hands of armed groups decreased by about 35 percent compared with 2000. In many cases, terrorists randomly targeted civilians in an apparent attempt to create social disorder. (references) | |
Political Economy | MEXICO | Imports are inspected at the border by Customs, while domestic products are inspected randomly at the retail level by the Procuraduria Federal del Consumidor (PROFECO, the Mexican federal consumer protection agency). (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Randomly" is generally used as an adverb (general) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Randomly" is used about 368 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adverb (general) | 100% | 368 | 14,720 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "randomly": randomly textured surface. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "randomly": randomly-chosen, randomly-differing, randomly-generated, randomly-scattered, randomly-selected. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
computer randomly reboots | 3 |
2000 freeze randomly window | 2 |
computer randomly restarts | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "randomly"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Arabic | عشوائيا (at random). (various references) | |
Chinese | 任意地 (Optionally). (various references) | |
Danish | ufaset satellit (randomly orientated satellite, randomly oriented satellite, unphased satellite), tilfaeldigt orienterede regndraaber (randomly orientated raindrops, randomly oriented raindrops), en smelte er en ansamling af atomer, af hvilke hver enkelt statistisk er omgivet af et bestemt antal naboer og selv har en bestemt fri middelvejlaengde (each of which is randomly surrounded by a given number of ever changing neighbours and possesses a given mean free path). (various references) | |
Dutch | willekeurig georiënteerde regendruppels (randomly orientated raindrops, randomly oriented raindrops), willekeurig geörienteerde satelliet (randomly orientated satellite, randomly oriented satellite, unphased satellite), onafhankelijk getempeerde gegevenswoorden (randomly-timed data words), niet-gefaseerde satelliet (randomly orientated satellite, randomly oriented satellite, unphased satellite), een smelt is een verzameling van atomen waarvan elk atoom willekeurig is omgeven door een vast aantal andere atomen en zelf een eigen gemiddelde vrije weglengte heeft (each of which is randomly surrounded by a given number of ever changing neighbours and possesses a given mean free path). (various references) | |
Finnish | satunnaisvaiheistettu satelliitti (randomly orientated satellite, randomly oriented satellite, unphased satellite), satunnaisesti suuntautuneet sadepisarat (randomly orientated raindrops, randomly oriented raindrops). (various references) | |
French | en n'importe quel point. (various references) | |
German | wahllose (indiscriminately), direkt (blunt, bluntly, clear, direct, directly, due, forthright, immediate, immediately, immediatly, lineal, live, one-level, outspoken, outspokenly, perfect, plain, plainly, plump, really, right, sheer, slap, squarely, straigh ahead, straight, straightly, unbroken, undeviating). (various references) | |
Greek | ενα υγρό είναι σύνολο ατόμων τα οποία περιβάλλονται κατά τρόπο στατιστικό από συγκεκριμένο αριθμό τυχαίων γειτονικών ατόμων και διαθέτου (each of which is randomly surrounded by a given number of ever changing neighbours and possesses a given mean free path), τυχαία προσανατολισμένες βροχοσταγόνες (randomly orientated raindrops, randomly oriented raindrops). (various references) | |
Indonesian | awur-awuran. (various references) | |
Italian | un liquido è un insieme di atomi, ciascuno dei quali è circondato statisticamente da un numero definito di atomi vicini occasionali e possiede un grado medio di libertà (a liquid is an assembly of atoms, each of which is randomly surrounded by a given number of ever changing neighbours and possesses a given mean free path), gocce di pioggia orientate a caso (randomly orientated raindrops, randomly oriented raindrops). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 矢鱈に (blindly, recklessly). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | やたらに (blindly, recklessly). (various references) | |
Korean | 무작위적으로. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | andomlyray.(various references) | |
Portuguese | satélite não sincronizado (randomly orientated satellite, randomly oriented satellite, unphased satellite), gotas de chuva orientadas aleatoriamente (randomly orientated raindrops, randomly oriented raindrops). (various references) | |
Spanish | al azar (at random, haphazard, hit or miss, hit-and-miss, promiscuous). (various references) | |
Swedish | slumpvist, slumpvis (at random, random). (various references) | |
Thai | อย่างไร้แบบแผน. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Misspellings | |
"Randomly" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: randily, randmly, randoly, rangoli. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "randomly" (pronounced ra"ndumlē) |
| 4 | -u m l ē | awesomely, handsomely, solemnly. |
| 3 | -m l ē | calmly, comely, dimly, lamely, extremely, firmly, gamely, glumly, grimly, homely, namely, primly, superfamily, timely, uniformly, unseemly, untimely, warmly. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-d-l-m-n-o-r-y" | |
-1 letter: almonry. | |
-2 letters: almond, dolman, dynamo, ladron, lardon, normal, random, rodman. | |
-3 letters: adorn, anomy, dolma, domal, dormy, lardy, loamy, loran, lyard, madly, manly, manor, marly, mayor, modal, molar, moldy, monad, moral, moray, nodal, nomad, radon, randy, rayon, roman, royal. | |
-4 letters: amyl, army, aryl, damn, darn, dona, dorm, dory, dram, dray, lady, land, lard, load, loam. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-d-l-m-n-o-r-y" | |
+1 letter: mordantly. | |
+3 letters: mandatorily. | |
+4 letters: admonitorily, demonstrably, imponderably, meridionally. | |
+5 letters: adrenalectomy, aerodynamical, deuteranomaly, documentarily, grandmotherly, hydroxylamine, predominantly, predominately. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Digital Art 7. Sounds 8. Quotations: Non-fiction | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Derivations 14. Rhymes 15. Anagrams 16. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
