On Thu, Aug 01, 2002 at 07:01:04AM -0700, Gary Edstrom wrote: >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?
Isn't it already done? Prime95 has been doing P-1 tests for quite a while now. :-) /* Steinar */ -- Homepage: http://www.sesse.net/ _________________________________________________________________________ Unsubscribe & list info -- http://www.ndatech.com/mersenne/signup.htm Mersenne Prime FAQ -- http://www.tasam.com/~lrwiman/FAQ-mers
