Pseudorandom Numbers

I have just engaged in a particularly pointless debate with one of my friends, on the relative randomness of varying small numbers, picked from the natural set. The debate primarily consisted of us attempting to determine what truly made a number more or less random.

Obviously, larger numbers seem more random, when taking into consideration the vastness of infinity, but in the end, when looking towards the end of infinity, one billion seems just as far away from it as one does. This is where my assertion comes in that some numbers 'seem' more random than other.

I maintain the following points:

1. Odd numbers seem more random than even ones.
2. Prime numbers seem more random than composite.
3. There should not be an abundance of any particular digit.
4. There should be a odd:even digit ratio of slightly over one.
5. And finally, it should have that ring of just having been pulled out of thin air.

These to me, are the five tenets of what makes a number random.

This of course is a load of malarkey, as truly random numbers cannot be generated, due to humans having bias, and computers not being able to produce anything but pseudorandom numbers.

For those that do not believe that they cannot produce random numbers, I challenge you to do the following: Begin saying random digits; at some point a pattern will form, or you will favour certain digits. While of course those pseudorandom numbers are sufficient, they are not ideal.

Pseudorandom numbers usually have all the characteristics of a random number, but it still begs the question, of how one would truly acheive a random value.

Until next time...