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Asked: 2026-05-29T22:32:52+00:00

I was using these functions and just wondering; why do they have a 48

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I was using these functions and just wondering; why do they have a 48 at the end of them? I tried to search a bit but couldn’t seem to find anything. Is it something mathematical or historical?

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  1. Editorial Team

    From the manual page of srand48(3):

    DESCRIPTION

    These functions generate pseudo-random numbers using the linear congruential algorithm and 48-bit integer arithmetic.

    […]

    All the functions work by generating a sequence of 48-bit integers, Xi, according to the linear congruential formula:

    Xn+1 = (aXn + c) mod m, where n >= 0

    The parameter m = 2^48, hence 48-bit integer arithmetic is performed.

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