Re: Random Data from Geiger Counter

Mok-Kong Shen (mok-kong.shen@stud.uni-muenchen.de)
Wed, 08 Jul 1998 10:49:24 +0100

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Anonymous wrote:
>
> On Tue, 7 Jul 1998, Perry E. Metzger wrote:
>
> > My big question is this: are there tools for taking a set of random
> > numbers dispersed according to a non-uniform distribution, like a
> > poisson or normal distribution, and turning them into a set of random
> > numbers over a uniform distribution? Given such tools, timing
> > intervals between the geiger counter ticks is probably safe --
> > otherwise, it may skew the results subtly.
>
> The mathematical technique to do this is straightforward enough, although
> I'm not sure of the cryptographic implications.

I suppose the original question was meant to say whether a given
source which is not uniform can be transformed to be almost uniform
for use. In cryptographical applications it is normally better to
have a uniform distribution. If the original non-uniform source
is not preditable, then the transformed sequence can be not preditable
if proper transformation is done.

M. K. Shen

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