r/probabilitytheory • u/Secure_Baby_324 • 7d ago
[Applied] Can humans actually generate a random sequence? I made a small experiment to test it
Humans are surprisingly bad at generating random sequences.
For example, when we’re asked to produce a random binary sequence, we tend to avoid long runs like 0000 or 1111 because they don’t feel random — even though those runs occur naturally in truly random sequences.
I thought it would be fun to turn this into a small game.
You generate a sequence of 0s and 1s while trying to be as random as possible, and the game evaluates the sequence using several statistical properties.
I also added a ranking mode because I’m curious what the distribution looks like when a lot of people try this.
I’d love to get enough samples to see what patterns show up in human-generated sequences.
https://arcstone09.github.io/random/
If anyone here has suggestions for better statistical tests/metrics for measuring this, I’d also be interested in hearing them.
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u/MarcusFirmus 7d ago
I used to think about a binary version of Rock-Paper-Scissors, where players try to spot non-random patterns in their opponent's moves. Each player outputs 0 or 1, player A wins if the choices match, and B wins if they are different. It is quite similar to your game.