How good is a stopwatch as a random number generator?

i have a stop watch that can generate time to 1/100 of the sec. The fact is that i cannot exactly control the precision to this degree. If i agree to start and stop the watch waiting atleast one sec, how good can it be as a random number generator and how much sec how i wait to use it as a really good random number generator if my reaction time is .25 secs.

How good is a stopwatch as a random number generator?small myspace

It can be a reasonably good random generator for the last digit, but you will probably not be random much beyond the hundredth of a second. You can test this by doing a large number of samples (e.g. 1000 or so) to see if you have a reasonable distribution of numbers. (I did this on an old HP45 and found it was missing a digit!)

How good is a stopwatch as a random number generator?myspace text myspace.com

I've used a slightly less accurate stopwatch for just this purpose. if you deliberately wait for differing periods, and just count the fractions after whole seconds, I don't see why it cannot perfectly adequately serve your purpose.