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New Method to Elusive Math Problem
By RAJESH MAHAPATRA .c The Associated Press NEW DELHI, India (AP) - Indian computer scientists said Friday they have solved a mathematical problem that has eluded researchers for 2,200 years - and could be crucial in modern times in improving computer configurations. A three-member team of scientists at the Indian Institute of Technolgy in the northern Indian city of Kanpur have devised a method that will make no mistake in quickly determining a prime number - those that are divisible only by themselves and 1. Prime numbers hold the key to solving many mathematical problems and play an important a role in cryptography. Scientists have long worked on ways to improve methods to identify a prime number. Greek mathematician Eratosthenes was the first to raise this problem around 200 B.C., when he offered one way of determining whether a number is prime. Computer scientists and mathematicians have since devised many faster ways to solve the problem, but all such methods carry a small risk of error. Some methods occasionally fail to detect a prime number, while others may select a nonprime number. ``Our algorithm is deterministic; it has no chance of committing any error,'' said Manindra Agrawal, the principal author of the formula. An algorithm is a set of instructions for solving a specific mathematical problem in a limited number of steps. Agrawal and his two associates - Neeraj Kayal and Nitin Saxena - have authored a paper detailing the formula, which was posted on their department's web site Sunday. Copies of the paper were also dispatched to leading computer scientists and mathematicians across the world. ``We have received several responses. All of them have expressed satisfaction with the new algorithm,'' Agrawal told The Associated Press by telephone. ``No one has doubted our claim,'' he said. The new algorithm will have no immediate applications, however, because current methods used in computers are faster. ``We have used more steps than the current methods in use,'' explains Agrawal. ``Our first objective was to find a method that is foolproof. Now, I am sure other researchers, or may be some of us, will start asking how can the number of steps be cut down and make the computation faster.'' On the Net: Department of Computer Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur www.cse.iitk.ac.in |
