random numbers

British

plural noun

a sequence of numbers that do not form any progression, used to facilitate unbiased sampling of a population. A random-number generator is part of the software of most computers and many calculators

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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random numbers

All we know is that the team sorts random numbers into boxes on their computers based on how the groups of numbers “feel.”

From Salon ● Feb. 7, 2025

She interviews an old boxer, suffering from dementia, who utters seemingly random numbers any viewer will recognize immediately as pregnant with dark meaning.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2024

Miss Campbell, 39, claimed she was regularly charged the wrong amount for her energy use because her smart meter produces "random numbers" that "are wildly wrong".

From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2023

A security key is a small, portable device that generates a set of random numbers that you enter when prompted when logging into an online account.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 18, 2023

The 1971 lottery used computer-generated tables of random numbers.

From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023