title: What is the use of numpy.random.seed() Does it make any difference?
body: <p>I have a dataset named "admissions". </p>
  
  <p>I am trying to carry out holdout validation on a simple dataset. In order to carry out permutation on the index of the dataset, I use the following command:</p>
  
  <pre><code>import numpy as np
  np.random.permutation(admissions.index)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Do I need to use <code>np.random.seed()</code> before the permutation? If so, then why and what does the number in <code>np.random.seed(number)</code>represent?</p>