13.2.4 The Cliff Random Number Generator

The Cliff random number generator(53) is a very simple random number generator that "passes the noise sphere test for randomness by showing no structure." It is easily programmed, in less than 10 lines of awk code:

# cliff_rand.awk --- generate Cliff random numbers BEGIN { _cliff_seed = 0.1 } function cliff_rand() { _cliff_seed = (100 * log(_cliff_seed)) % 1 if (_cliff_seed < 0) _cliff_seed = - _cliff_seed return _cliff_seed }

This algorithm requires an initial "seed" of 0.1. Each new value uses the current seed as input for the calculation. If the built-in rand function (see section 9.1.2 Numeric Functions) isn't random enough, you might try using this function instead.