Deep Math
Uncovering
the Hidden
Secrets of
Procedural
Generation
M
ATH E MATI CIAN S FRO M TH E C ALI FO R N IA
Institute of Technolog y have solved an age-
old problem related to “random walks,” a
mathematical process that traces a path
based on random decisions at various
junctions. If you’ve played a procedur-
ally generated video game like Minecraft
or Stardew Valley, you’ve encountered a random walk
in the form of a dungeon or terrain. Biologists use ran-
dom walks to model how animals move and behave, and
physicists use them to describe how particles behave.
In a random walk, the “walker” can move in any
direction at any point, so there’s an assumption that the CR
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22 September/October 2020
// BY CAROLINE DELBERT //
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