On Thursday 07 December 2006 14:20, david eddy wrote:
> Andy Messier wrote:
> > I can answer question 2.  Given the probability of finding a factor using
> > P-1 and the times required to factor vs. primality testing, Prime95 will
> > only P-1 factor to the extent that it minimizes the total CPU time
> > required to test primality.
>
> This is sensible and explains what "optimal" means.
> However I have looked at the file "how much P-1 factoring" and there was no
> consistency in the values of the two bounds as far as I could discern.

1) The "optimal" bounds calculated for double checking are a lot lower than 
for first tests - since the time saved by finding a factor is less after 
investing in the first L-L test run. (I'm not sure that sufficient allowance 
is made for the fact that more than two L-L tests are sometimes required 
before a pair with matching residues is found.)

2) Systems with small memory simply cannot run P-1 phase 2, so the phase 1 
limit is raised and phase 2 omitted in this case.

There is still an inefficiency as it would be more efficient to run P-1 
halfway through trial factoring (i.e. before increasing the trial factoring 
limit by 1 bit for the last time). This has been discussed before.

Regards
Brian Beesley
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