Re: A89: Linux Port for 89/92


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Re: A89: Linux Port for 89/92




On Thu, Jul 15, 1999 at 12:05:16 -0500, Miles Raymond wrote:
> 
> Does this mean that we are dealing with a number that could be as large as
> 13,407,807,929,942,597,099,574,024,998,205,846,127,479,365,820,592,393,377,7
> 23,561,443,721,764,030,073,546,976,801,874,298,166,903,427,690,031,858,186,4
> 86,050,853,753,882,811,946,569,946,433,649,006,084,096
> ?? (actually, a little less than that, because that # doesn't have only 2
> factors... hehe, it has 512 of them!! =)

Yes, the number can be that large. :(
It is actually 2^504 < n < 2^512.

> What I suggest is that someone with a really fast computer make a program to
> start at 2^512-1 and find the factors of that #, and if there are only 2, to
> put them in a list, then decrease the # by 2 and do it again.  I'm not
> saying that it'll give the answer right away, since there are trillions and
> trillions of digits in each number, but then we will have a list of all of
> the _possible_ values of n, p, and q.

Can you imagine how long that list would be?
We only need to find the factors of *one* number, n, but that still takes a
*very* long time, even for a *really* fast computer. (Have you read the
questions/answers in the FAQ about factoring?)

//Johan


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