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Random vs Null - What's the difference?

random | null |

As nouns the difference between random and null

is that random is a roving motion; course without definite direction; lack of rule or method; chance while null is zero, nil; the cardinal number before einn.

As an adjective random

is having unpredictable outcomes and, in the ideal case, all outcomes equally probable; resulting from such selection; lacking statistical correlation.

random

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A roving motion; course without definite direction; lack of rule or method; chance.
  • * (1591-1674)
  • *:Counsels, when they fly / At random , sometimes hit most happily.
  • *Sir (Walter Scott) (1771-1832)
  • *:O, many a shaft, at random sent, / Finds mark the archer little meant!
  • (label) Speed, full speed; impetuosity, force.
  • *:
  • *:they were messagers vnto kyng Ban & Bors sent from kynge Arthur / therfor said the viij knyghtes ye shalle dye or be prysoners / for we ben knyghtes of kyng Claudas And therwith two of them dressid theire sperys / and Vlfyus and Brastias dressid theire speres and ranne to gyder with grete raundon
  • *(Edward Hall) (1497-1547)
  • *:For courageously the two kings newly fought with great random and force.
  • *1624 , John Smith, Generall Historie , in Kupperman 1988, page 144:
  • *:Fortie yards will they shoot levell, or very neare the marke, and 120 is their best at Random .
  • :
  • :
  • (label) The direction of a rake-vein.
  • :(Raymond)
  • Synonyms

    * force, momentum, speed, velocity * (unimportant person) nobody, nonentity

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Having unpredictable outcomes and, in the ideal case, all outcomes equally probable; resulting from such selection; lacking statistical correlation.
  • The flip of a fair coin is purely random .
    The newspaper conducted a random sample of five hundred American teenagers.
    The results of the field survey look random by several different measures.
  • * July 18 2012 , Scott Tobias, AV Club The Dark Knight Rises [http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-dark-knight-rises-review-batman,82624/]
  • Where the Joker preys on our fears of random , irrational acts of terror, Bane has an all-consuming, dictatorial agenda that’s more stable and permanent, a New World Order that’s been planned out with the precision of a military coup.
  • (mathematics) Of or relating to probability distribution.
  • A toss of loaded dice is still random , though biased.
  • (computing) Pseudorandom; mimicking the result of random selection.
  • The rand function generates a random number from a seed.
  • (somewhat colloquial) Representative and undistinguished; typical and average; selected for no particular reason.
  • A random American off the street couldn't tell the difference.
  • (somewhat colloquial) Apropos of nothing; lacking context; unexpected; having apparent lack of plan, cause or reason.
  • That was a completely random comment.
    The teacher's bartending story was interesting, but random .
    The narrative takes a random course.
  • (colloquial) Characterized by or often saying random things; habitually using non sequiturs.
  • You're so random !

    Synonyms

    * (having unpredictable outcomes) * (of or relating to probability distribution) stochastic * (pseudorandom) pseudorandom * (representative and undistinguished) average, typical * (lacking context) arbitrary, unexpected, unplanned

    Derived terms

    * at random * non-random * pseudorandom * randomer * randomise, randomize * randomness * random number * randomly * randomology * randomosity

    See also

    * (Randomness)

    Anagrams

    *

    null

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A non-existent or empty value or set of values.
  • Zero]] quantity of [[expression, expressions; nothing.
  • (Francis Bacon)
  • Something that has no force or meaning.
  • (computing) the ASCII or Unicode character (), represented by a zero value, that indicates no character and is sometimes used as a string terminator.
  • (computing) the attribute of an entity that has no valid value.
  • Since no date of birth was entered for the patient, his age is null .
  • One of the beads in nulled work.
  • (statistics) null hypothesis
  • Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Having no validity, "null and void"
  • insignificant
  • * 1924 , Marcel Proust, Within a Budding Grove :
  • In proportion as we descend the social scale our snobbishness fastens on to mere nothings which are perhaps no more null than the distinctions observed by the aristocracy, but, being more obscure, more peculiar to the individual, take us more by surprise.
  • absent or non-existent
  • (mathematics) of the null set
  • (mathematics) of or comprising a value of precisely zero
  • (genetics, of a mutation) causing a complete loss of gene function, amorphic.
  • Derived terms

    * nullity

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • to nullify; to annul
  • (Milton)

    See also

    * nil ----