Brian Beesley wrote:
> On Sunday 01 October 2006 07:16, Nacho wrote:
>   
>> Hello everyone.
>>
>> I'm a little surprised that nobody said it, but such function is known.
>> It is called Pi(x), and gives the number of primes less than x. The main
>> problem is the implementation of Pi(x), of course.
>>     
>
> Doesn't this depend on the (AFAIK unproved) Riemann hypothesis?
>   
Not certain of this, but I think Pi(x) is defined as the number of 
primes less than or equal to x. The Riemann hypothesis is concerned with 
a particular approximation to Pi(x), a more accurate one than Pi(x) = x 
/ lg x.
>> Maybe the algorithm developed by Allen is new, but there are some other
>> algorithms used.
>>     
>
> This is where the possible interest is. If Allen's algorithm turns out to be 
> genuinely different, proveably correct and returns the same results as Pi(x) 
> then there may be a handle on proving Riemann. Or even the extended Riemann 
> hypothesis!
>
> Regards
> Brian Beesley
>   
Hmm, unlikely. Allen's algorithm sounds like it's at least as 
computationally intensive as finding the primes individually.

Soo Reams

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