IPod Shuffle: How Random Is It?

Overview

Objectives/Goals To determine whether the shuffle feature in the iPod really plays songs randomly. I believe that it does not play songs truly randomly because it uses a pseudo-random number generator. Methods/Materials My iPod, a die, playing cards, and Microsoft Excel. I conducted three tests and one data analysis to test the uniformity and unpredictability of the iPod shuffle. Uniformity and Unpredictability are the two tests that a random number generator has to pass to be considered random. On my iPod I recorded my voice saying "1-2-3-4-5-6". I then compared the iPod shuffle to rolling a die and dealing playing cards, which represent true random events. I also went to www.random.org and got random numbers which are generated by atmospheric noise and compared those numbers to those generated by the iPod shuffle. Results From the testing, the iPod shuffle was as random as the true random events it was compared against; it was just as unpredictable and just as uniform as the true random events. Conclusions/Discussion Based on my testing, my hypothesis was proven incorrect; the iPod shuffle is random. I have learned a lot from this project about randomness and random number generators and how they are used.

Competition history

• CSEF 2007 Mathematics & Software · Entry J1305

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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