"Cracking" a Random Number Generator

[Editor’s Note: This paper was original printed in the January 1977, Volume I, Number 1, issue of Cryptologia (pp. 20-26) the premier issue. Over the years this one article has drawn more interest than any other article and requests for reprints of the paper come in year after year. The editors thought it appropriate to offer this paper to our readers. The original paper was set using WordStar word process in a NEC Spinwriter thimble printer. We have set this version using LaTeX on a laser printer, the configuration we currently use to do the journal itself. Times have changed, but the lure of this piece remains. James Reeds has written much over the years about crypto maters, indeed, his papers have appeared in Cryptologia since this very first one appeared. We hope you enjoy the work.]