Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

On The Run: Unexpected Outcomes Of Random Events [Post-Print], Mark P. Silverman

Faculty Scholarship

When purportedly random processes give rise to surprisingly nonrandom outcomes, how can one tell whether the process are truly random? One way exploits the relatively little-known method of runs. We discuss the perplexing probability problem that brought this procedure to our attention, and our experimental tests of random processes produced by (a) numerical algorithm, (b) coin selection, and (c) nuclear decay.