random number book
{{Short description|Cryptology tool}}
A random number book is a book whose main content is a large number of random numbers or random digits. Such books were used in early cryptography and experimental design, and were published by the RAND Corporation{{cite web |url=http://j-walkblog.com/index.php?/weblog/posts/random_number_book/ |title=Random Number Book |accessdate=8 April 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-date=12 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140312212339/http://j-walkblog.com/index.php?%2Fweblog%2Fposts%2Frandom_number_book%2F }} and others. The RAND Corporation book A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates was first published in 1955 and was reissued in 2001. A sequel, A Million And One Random Digits was published in 2022. Tables of random numbers have probably been used for multiple purposes at least since the Industrial Revolution. A table of random numbers was made by L.H.C. Tippett. {{cite web |title=NIST Randomness Beacon |url=https://www.nist.gov/programs-projects/nist-randomness-beacon |archive-date=13 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170713035202/https://www.nist.gov/programs-projects/nist-randomness-beacon }}
Random number books have been rendered obsolete for most purposes by the ready availability of random number generators running on electronic computers. However, they still have niche uses, particularly in the performance of experimental music pieces that call for them, such as Vision (1959) and Poem (1960) by La Monte Young.{{cite web|url=http://www.users.waitrose.com/~chobbs/smithyoung.html |title=Following a Straight Line |accessdate=29 August 2012}}