The adjective random comes from the Latin word aleatorĭus: The concept allows us to classify what is linked to luck and that is unforeseen. For example: “We have no way of predicting who will win since the result is random”, “It is a random videoconferencing system: you never know who you will communicate with”, “The federation announced that the anti-doping tests will be random”.
Randomness is something that cannot be predicted since chance intervenes. Therefore, it is not possible to predict its outcome before it materializes. These kinds of phenomena are studied from probability to know how often a certain result can be obtained, whenever possible.
The randomness (random condition) is the essence of gambling. When a person rolls a die, they have no way of knowing what number will come out: the result of the action is random. Anyway, the probability indicates that each number has a one in six chance of coming out since the die has six numbers. In other words, there is a probability that the number 1 will come out of six possible (the rest of the possibilities are the numbers 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6).
The roulette result is also random. A man has no way of knowing where the ball will land before the play, so he has no certainty about his bet. There are, however, studies and analyzes that can be carried out to try to anticipate the result, especially when it comes to manual roulette.
It is important to mention that the term random is not very common in everyday speech, but instead uses “random”, which can be taken as one of its synonyms, along with “fortuitous, casual” or “uncertain”. In fact, in the DEFINITION OF the RAE Dictionary, we see that random is something that belongs to the game of chance or that depends on chance itself, such as being a “chance”.
For its part, the word random is reserved especially for very specific areas, such as computer programming, where the concept itself is constantly used to create a wide range of programs. Although software development is a relatively structured process that seeks previously established results, it is often necessary to resort to chance to solve certain problems.
This occurs especially in the video game industry, where certain elements must be placed in always different positions, so that they surprise the player. Since fetching random values is somewhat demanding for processors, it is recommended to create a list during loading and then take the numbers from there whenever necessary.
To understand this, let’s think of a very simple game in which we must control a ship with which to shoot a series of enemies that appear from the top of the screen and advance towards us. If we use random values to assign them a position, each game will be different; otherwise, the person will have the opportunity to memorize the design of each level and over time the challenge will decrease.
A type of bilateral legal act in which it is agreed that one of the benefits due depends on what takes place in the future, is known by the name of a random contract, without this becoming a condition that can annul the covenant, but it is considered a contingency of loss or gain. This type of contract is also onerous, that is, both parties receive economic advantages and must fulfill certain obligations.
