Exploring the world of web development with JavaScript and the randomization magic

As per information from a Stack Overflow discussion, Math.random() in JavaScript seems to rely on the browser or operating system, indicating that there is no standard algorithm for generating uniform random variables in JavaScript. Another discussion thread mentions Chrome's random number algorithm as particularly poor.

In my program, I aim to analyze user behavior based on some data along with random noise. To generate Gaussian random numbers, I employ a Box-Muller transform on figures produced by Math.random(). Does this mean users on different browsers may experience various types of noise? I choose Box-Muller despite its slower speed because it can be sensitive to how pseudo random numbers are generated. While there are many debates on the flaws of using Math.random(), there appears to be less discussion on preferred alternatives. What constitutes best practice in this scenario? Are there specific considerations I should keep in mind when utilizing Box-Muller for converting to Gaussian numbers?

javascriptrandom

Answer №1

Check out the xor-shift based RNG over at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xorshift. It has great randomness properties and can be easily adapted to JavaScript:

UPDATE:

(function () {
    var x = 123456789;
    var y = 362436069;
    var z = 521288629;
    var w = 88675123;
    var f = Math.pow(2, -32);

    Object.defineProperty(Math, 'xor128', {
        value: function () {
            var t = x ^ (x << 11);
            x = y;
            y = z;
            z = w;
            w = w ^ (w >>> 19) ^ (t ^ (t >>> 8));

            return (w >>> 0) * f;  // convert to floating point          
        }
    });

})();

Please note that only 32 bits of the 128 generated are used to produce the floating point result. You could potentially combine another 20 bits from a different state variable to get 52 bits of result.

The main drawback I see is that this method does not support seeding, meaning it will always generate the same sequence.

Answer №2

The Box-Muller transform operates effectively on uniformly distributed input data. However, it is noted that the Math.random() function in JavaScript may not produce numbers with a truly uniform distribution according to MDN's example.

As outlined in the ECMAScript specification, Math.random() generates a number between 0 and 1 with an "approximately" uniform distribution. The specific algorithm used may vary by implementation.

Ultimately, the level of randomness in Math.random() depends on the browser itself. It's possible for browsers to differ in their approaches to generating uniformly distributed random numbers.

This variability means that trying to implement a cross-browser Box-Muller transform in JavaScript using Math.random() may not yield reliable results.

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