On Wed, Aug 12, 2009 at 04:27:09PM -0500, Ron Johnson wrote: > Does this burn through entropy faster than other methods? Probably, although since $RANDOM accesses /dev/urandom instead of /dev/random , your available entropy remains undefined in any case. As for the numerical distribution of your formula, I have no opinion. -- "Oh, look: rocks!" -- Doctor Who, "Destiny of the Daleks"