I don't believe that can ever happen, but if it did then the next
step would just use mod(-1) which is p-1. The mod function
never returns a negative number.
Steve Harris
-----Original Message-----
From: Spike Jones <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Wednesday, March 28, 2001 1:47 AM
Subject: Mersenne: LL question
>OK I understand how you start with 4, then square and
>subtract 2, then take the mod M, then repeat P times.
>If the remainder is 0, then M is prime.
>
>But what if the mod M comes out to 1 on one of
>the intermediate steps? Then 1^2 - 2 = -1
>Then what? spike
>
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