I must start out by saying that I don't have much of a background in the number theory related to prime number testing. I'm just interested in them. That is why I joined GIMPS.
I seem to remember reading that there are probabilistic tests that can be run on a number. The test is repeated for a number of iterations. If the test fails any iteration, then it is definitely NOT prime. If it passes a sufficient number of tests, then it is PROBABLY prime. Now my question is this: "How long does an iteration of one of these probabilistic tests take?" and "Can these tests be used on Mersenne numbers?" It would seem to be a good way to dispose of even more Mersenne candidates before submitting them to the lengthy Lucas-Lehmer algorithm. Why isn't it done? Thanks, Gary _________________________________________________________________________ Unsubscribe & list info -- http://www.ndatech.com/mersenne/signup.htm Mersenne Prime FAQ -- http://www.tasam.com/~lrwiman/FAQ-mers
