Earlier, Douglas Barnes wrote:
// Demo of mathematics for Diffie-Hellman type key exchange [..] // Does anyone have a clue what good values of 'a' are in this // algorithm?
a = 127;
The only restriction placed on /a/ is that it be a primitive root of /p/. To do this, you choose /a/ at random until you find the condition (/a/, /p/-1) == 1 is satisfied. Since there are lots of primitive roots, this shouldn't take long. I wonder though, are there any strengths in choosing higher values of /a/? Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, my engineering background means my number theory isn't as strong as it could be (but I'm working on it :-). Matthew. -- Matthew Gream, M.Gream@uts.edu.au. "... encryption is the ultimate means of Consent Technologies, 02-821-2043. protection against an Orwellian state."