True, I should have written: "And also everyone should know that there
is no _formula_ to
compute / identify if a number is prime or not: "
:-)

2009/12/11 mcalex <[email protected]>:
> a clarification to the correction
> There ARE algorithms to calculate whether a given number is prime or
> not.  Here is one:
> <quote="Nuno Garcia">You just have to divide the number consecutively
> by others until you conclude that
> there are no divisors and thus the number is prime</quote>
> There ISN'T an algorithm that provides a list of prime numbers or for
> instance, the first prime number bigger than 1,000,000.
>
> On Dec 11, 11:27 am, "Jesse Lesperance" <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>> A correction to your statement, there ARE algorithims to calculate the
>> prime of any given number.  In fact, those algorithims are used for
>> many things like SSL encryption
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>> On Dec 10, 2009, at 7:22 PM, "Nuno Garcia" <[email protected]>
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>> > Hi, I'm picking the last part of the question to answer you.
>>
>> > Everyone knows how important the prime numbers are in Computer
>> > Science. And also everyone should know that there is no algorithm to
>> > compute / identify if a number is prime or not: you just have to
>> > divide the number consecutively by others until you conclude that
>> > there are no divisors and thus the number is prime.
>>
>> > The difference between knowing your math and do this in a brute force
>> > approach is the difference between being able to calculate if a number
>> > is prime or not (specially for very large numbers).
>>
>> > For instance, is a number is not divisible by 2, it will not be
>> > divisible by 4, or by 6 or by any other pair. So if you conclude that
>> > the number is not divisible by 3, you can skip the pairs in the
>> > division check. And the same thing applies to multiples of 3, 5, and
>> > so on.
>>
>> > This is just using concrete maths. You can find examples in almost any
>> > area of maths, for example, in graph theory. The shortest path
>> > algorithm that routes our data packets in the Internet is a purely
>> > mathematical algorithm which happens to be usable in computer networks
>> > (thanks, E. Dijkstra!).
>>
>> > Best regards,
>>
>> > Nuno
>>
>> > 2009/12/10 Rammohan Vadlamani <[email protected]>:
>> >> Hi all,
>> >>          I have been practising java programming for the past one
>> >> year and
>> >> have learnt pretty much of it. But I want to program really big
>> >> stuff. Can
>> >> any one tell me how should I proceed. I have also heard that
>> >> algorithms and
>> >> mathematics play a big role in programming. Can any one let me know
>> >> the
>> >> significance of algorithms and maths in the field of computer
>> >> programming.
>>
>> >> Rammohan
>>
>> >> --
>> >> To post to this group, send email to
>> >> [email protected]
>> >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
>> >> [email protected]
>> >> For more options, visit this group at
>> >>http://groups.google.com/group/javaprogrammingwithpassion?hl=en
>>
>> > --
>> > To post to this group, send email to 
>> > [email protected]
>> > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to 
>> > [email protected]
>> > For more options, visit this group 
>> > athttp://groups.google.com/group/javaprogrammingwithpassion?hl=en- Hide 
>> > quoted text -
>>
>> - Show quoted text -
>
> --
> To post to this group, send email to 
> [email protected]
> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to 
> [email protected]
> For more options, visit this group at 
> http://groups.google.com/group/javaprogrammingwithpassion?hl=en

-- 
To post to this group, send email to [email protected]
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to 
[email protected]
For more options, visit this group at 
http://groups.google.com/group/javaprogrammingwithpassion?hl=en

Reply via email to