Randomness of a bit string
Perry E. Metzger
pmetzger at lehman.com
Mon Jan 24 12:49:38 PST 1994
Timothy C. May says:
> Here's a short article I wrote for sci.crypt aboout "randomness" of a
> bit string and the Kolmogorov-Chaitin definition that a string is
> random if and only if it has no shorter description than itself.
With respect, Tim, this definition is insufficient. For cryptographic
purposes, a string must not merely be incompressible but also unknown.
One can imagine things that are uncontrollable and incompressable but
well known -- such as, say the least signifcant bits in the payoffs on
winning horses at some race track.
Perry
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