1994-01-24 - Re: Randomness of a bit string

Header Data

From: “Perry E. Metzger” <pmetzger@lehman.com>
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Message Hash: 90547e5fcce4e26730f10d16eface17d161dc6460f263080a15966534eda65bf
Message ID: <199401242038.PAA00920@snark>
Reply To: <199401241857.KAA06412@mail.netcom.com>
UTC Datetime: 1994-01-24 20:49:38 UTC
Raw Date: Mon, 24 Jan 94 12:49:38 PST

Raw message

From: "Perry E. Metzger" <pmetzger@lehman.com>
Date: Mon, 24 Jan 94 12:49:38 PST
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Randomness of a bit string
In-Reply-To: <199401241857.KAA06412@mail.netcom.com>
Message-ID: <199401242038.PAA00920@snark>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



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

Thread

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• Return to “Eli Brandt <ebrandt@jarthur.Claremont.EDU>”
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• 1994-01-24 (Mon, 24 Jan 94 11:06:38 PST) - Randomness of a bit string - tcmay@netcom.com (Timothy C. May)
  • 1994-01-24 (Mon, 24 Jan 94 12:16:43 PST) - Randomness of a bit string - kevin@axon.cs.byu.edu (Kevin Vanhorn)
    • 1994-01-25 (Mon, 24 Jan 94 19:46:43 PST) - Re: Randomness of a bit string - tcmay@netcom.com (Timothy C. May)
      • 1994-01-25 (Mon, 24 Jan 94 20:16:43 PST) - Re: Randomness of a bit string - “Perry E. Metzger” <pmetzger@lehman.com>
      • 1994-01-25 (Mon, 24 Jan 94 22:46:45 PST) - Re: Randomness of a bit string - Eli Brandt <ebrandt@jarthur.Claremont.EDU>
      • 1994-01-25 (Mon, 24 Jan 94 23:08:30 PST) - Randomness of a bit string - kevin@axon.cs.byu.edu (Kevin Vanhorn)
  • 1994-01-24 (Mon, 24 Jan 94 12:49:38 PST) - Re: Randomness of a bit string - “Perry E. Metzger” <pmetzger@lehman.com>
  • 1994-01-25 (Tue, 25 Jan 94 01:06:44 PST) - Re: Randomness of a bit string - tcmay@netcom.com (Timothy C. May)
    • 1994-01-25 (Tue, 25 Jan 94 03:06:47 PST) - Re: Randomness of a bit string - Phil Karn <karn@qualcomm.com>