Quote: "In mathematics, a normal number is a real number whose infinite sequence of digits in every base b[1] is distributed uniformly in the sense that each of the b digit values has the same natural density 1/b, also all possible b^2 pairs of digits are equally likely with density b^−2, all b^3 triplets of digits equally likely with density b^−3, etc."
There are also pseudorandom generators whose purpose it is to generate results that agree with a normal or Gaussian distribution, for particular purposes.
Quote: "This note is about the topic of generating Gaussian pseudo-random numbers given a source of uniform pseudo-random numbers."
The problem here is that a normal number shows a uniform distribution of its digits among the possible values, and the term normal distribution is sometimes used to describe this outcome.
> In programming, people often start from the uniform distribution, don't they?
Yes, and as set out above, this starting point may be described in a confusing way.
I have never seen the term normal distribution used in connection with anything but the Gaussian normal distribution. Especially not in connection with normal numbers. Can you point to some examples of people using this sense?
There may be a terminological confusion at work here. A normal or uniform number shows no internal pattern:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_number
Quote: "In mathematics, a normal number is a real number whose infinite sequence of digits in every base b[1] is distributed uniformly in the sense that each of the b digit values has the same natural density 1/b, also all possible b^2 pairs of digits are equally likely with density b^−2, all b^3 triplets of digits equally likely with density b^−3, etc."
There are also pseudorandom generators whose purpose it is to generate results that agree with a normal or Gaussian distribution, for particular purposes.
http://www.design.caltech.edu/erik/Misc/Gaussian.html
Quote: "This note is about the topic of generating Gaussian pseudo-random numbers given a source of uniform pseudo-random numbers."
The problem here is that a normal number shows a uniform distribution of its digits among the possible values, and the term normal distribution is sometimes used to describe this outcome.
> In programming, people often start from the uniform distribution, don't they?
Yes, and as set out above, this starting point may be described in a confusing way.