Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 14730
pseudorandom number generator -> mersenne twister
Last modified: 2013-02-07 22:19:44 UTC
i'm probably embarassing myself saying this, as i'm no expert. I'm assuming that the random number generator OOo uses is just an implementation of the math.h one. (As i can find no previous issues mentioning it.) Would it be possible to instead use the Mersenne Twister algorithm? (see url) It is faster than rand() and much more 'random'. It is under the the BSD license. This could replace all calc's current random functions, or new MT functions merely added. This would improve its desirability for use as a simple statistical modeller.
Hi Bettina, 1 4 u Frank
URL is no longer available, but web pages have been cached via Internet Archive: http://www.archive.org/web/web.php I will upload the pdf from the original author.
Created attachment 45730 [details] Original paper with some C code.
To grep the issues easier via "requirements" I put the issues currently lying on my owner to the owner "requirements".
Mersenne Twister is available as an extension (MTRNG). For the time being I would like to offer different options for users so I implemented Wichmann-Hill 2006 in revision 1416271 which should cover all the needs for Calc users. This said, Mersenne Twister is actually better (much better period) and replacing the C code with the algorithm in the paper should be relatively straightforward. If the WH-2006 shows to be insufficient or have problems we could review the code and plug in the new algorithm relatively easily.