Anyone who considers arithmetical methods of producing random digits is, of course, in a state of sin. - John von Neumann

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Anyone who considers arithmetical methods of producing random digits is, of course, in a state of sin.

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About John von Neumann

John von Neumann (28 December 1903 – 8 February 1957) was a Hungarian-American-Jewish mathematician, physicist, inventor, computer scientist, and polymath. He made major contributions to a number of fields, including mathematics (foundations of mathematics, functional analysis, ergodic theory, geometry, topology, and numerical analysis), physics (quantum mechanics, hydrodynamics and quantum statistical mechanics), economics (game theory), computing (Von Neumann architecture, linear programming, self-replicating machines, stochastic computing), and statistics.

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Also Known As

Native Name: margittai Neumann János Lajos
Also Known As: Good Time Johnny
Alternative Names: John Von Neumann Janos Lajos Neumann János Lajos Neumann von Neumann Neumann János Lajos John Louis von Neumann János Neumann
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Additional quotes by John von Neumann

Apart from all other considerations, the main limitation of analog machines relates to precision. Indeed, the precision of electrical analog machines rarely exceeds 1:10^3, and even mechanical ones achieve at best 1:10^4 to 10^5... On the other hand, to go from 1:10^12 to 1:10^13 in a digital machine means merely adding one place to twelve; this means usually no more than a relative increase in equipment (not everywhere!) of 1/12 = 8.3 percent, and an equal loss in speed (not everywhere!) — none of which is serious.

"The general opinion in theoretical physics had accepted the idea that the principle of continuity ("natura non facit saltus"), prevailing in the microsoptic world, is merely simulated by an averaging process in a world which in truth is discontinuous by its very nature. This simulation is such that a man generally percieves the sum of many billions of elementary processes simultaneously, so that the leveling law of large numbers completely obscures the real nature of the individual processes."

No, no,’ he said. ‘Chess is not a game. Chess is a well-defined form of computation. You may not be able to work out the answers, but in theory there must be a solution, a right procedure in any position. Now, real games,’ he said, ‘are not like that at all. Real life is not like that. Real life consists of bluffing, of little tactics of deception, of asking yourself what is the other man going to think I mean to do. And that is what games are about in my theory.

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