randomseed
Randomseed, typically called a seed, initializes the state of a pseudorandom number generator (PRNG). Most RNGs are deterministic: given the same internal state, they produce the same sequence of numbers. The seed provides the initial state from which that sequence is derived. In many languages, the function or procedure is named seed, srand, or RandomSeed.
The primary purpose of a seed is to enable reproducibility. By using a fixed seed, researchers can
Mechanically, a seed is passed to the RNG as an input value, often an integer or an
Practical considerations include choosing a seed appropriate to the task. For non-secure, conventional uses, a time-based
Examples: In Python, random.seed(x); in C, srand(x); in Lua, math.randomseed(x); in MATLAB, rng(x).