[spacechild1]

> That's what a hash function is--mapping input to outputs with a pseudo-random distribution

That's not what a PRNG does. A PRNG produces a sequence of pseudo-random values (with a particular distribution) based on an initial seed value.

A hash function is stateless, a PRNG is not.

[adastra22]

When used as a hasher, the 'seed' is the input. When used as a PRNG tool, the seed is an incrementing counter or something. It's the same function though.

[spacechild1]

I see what you mean. You can use a hash function to build a PRNG, but the hash function itself it not a PRNG.

In a hash table, the hash function is not used to produce a series of random numbers, that's why it's a bit silly to call it a PRNG. Instead, the purpose is to reduce a (possibly larger) input value to a fixed size output value, often with the requirement that similar input values should result in very different output values to avoid clustering.

However, your hash table example is still useful as an analogy.