On Wed, 03 Oct 2001 18:29:52 -0700, Gerry Snyder <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>But, at least in theory, every Mersenne number proven non-prime will >eventually be factored. Again, to me, so what? At least the LL test >showed that further factoring activity would eventually succeed. It might be pointed out that we are still finding factors of numbers in the same size range as some found to be prime in the 1950's, and that it may well be (due to such things as the uncertainity principle, the speed of light, and the need to not have to worry about whether there actually is an electron crossing a closed switch when one ought to) impossible to factor some of the numbers now being tested. Right now, it's well under an hour's work to prove *any* 700 digit number prime, but factoring general numbers of the same size in an hour would be a very good way to get very rich (legally or otherwise) very quickly. >PS I just got a chuckle from imagining a very competitive team tearing >down an opponent by finding what numbers the opponent had done LL tests >on, and factoring them. If things are being done properly, they should be better off by far doing their own tests, since the factoring bounds are chosen to stop when it's no longer worthwhile to continue factoring in hopes of averting both the first and second tests. Nathan _________________________________________________________________________ Unsubscribe & list info -- http://www.scruz.net/~luke/signup.htm Mersenne Prime FAQ -- http://www.tasam.com/~lrwiman/FAQ-mers
