> From: Jud McCranie[SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> At 10:54 PM 6/21/99 +0100, Gordon Spence wrote:
> >>Yup. And don't forget that the larger the exponent, the fewer the
> >>possible factors in a given range (e.g., from 0 to 2^40 or 0 to 2^63).
> >>
> >
> >Ok, I'll ask the stupid question, I stopped maths at the year before
> >university, WHY is this the case?
>
> Because a factor of Mp must be of the form 2*k*p+1 (actually only half of
> those
> are possible), and as p increases the number of potential factors of that
> form
> <= X decreases.
>
Ahhh, because the smallest factor must be <= the sqrt() of the number!
Sorry, Gordon, I was wondering the same thing when you asked this. :)
Cheers,
David
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