Advantages of imperfect dice rolls over coin flips for random number generation.

ABSTRACT: With an eye toward neural-inspired probabilistic computation, recent work has examined the development of true random number generators via stochastic devices. Typically, these devices are operated in a two-state regime to produce a sequence of binary outcomes (i.e., coin flips). However, there is no guarantee that stochastic devices will infallibly produce fair outputs and small deviations from a uniform distribution may have unwanted complications in applications. Using mathematical analysis, we contend that opting instead for a multi-state device (i.e., a dice roll) has benefits in these unfair paradigms. To demonstrate these benefits, we apply this framework to the analysis of a tunnel diode operated in a stochastic regime. In particular, interpreting the binary stochastic output of th

SUBMITTER: Pfeffer DT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11976936 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature