> 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?
To answer your questions in order: 1) For Mersenne numbers, about the same time it takes to perform a LL-test. 2) Yes. 3) Because the LL-test *proves* primality in about the same time that the pseudoprimality test reports it may be prime (and so needs proving anyway). Paul _________________________________________________________________________ Unsubscribe & list info -- http://www.ndatech.com/mersenne/signup.htm Mersenne Prime FAQ -- http://www.tasam.com/~lrwiman/FAQ-mers
