Mersenne: Re: 2^4-1 Factored!

[EWMAYER]

Luke Welsh wrote:

>http://www.research.ibm.com/resources/news/20011219_quantum.shtml

Interesting...but the QC folks apprently seem to think classical factoring
work is frozen in time, viz. their comment about the supposed unfactorizability
of 200-digit composites. M727 is larger than 200 digits, and has a smallest
prime factor of 98 digits. Of course when QC comes into its own, 200-digit
numbers will be factored almost instantly. But we aren't there yet.

-Ernst