On Mon, 11 Apr 1994, Peter Wayner wrote:
Is there a largest prime number? If there is then collect all primes, p1...pn and multiply them together p=p1*p2*...*pn. p+1 is not divisible by p1...pn. Therefore p+1 is a prime. Therefore there is no largest prime number.
That's cool, why doesn't anyone use this to generate large prime numbers? I can see great potential for this one. Awaiting scorching flames, Jeremy
The product of a bunch of primes plus one is not necessarily prime. It just contains a prime factor not in the primes multiplied together. When looking for a large prime number in some range of integers, it is computationally more efficient to simply strobe upwards from some starting point testing for primality than it is to try to generate the prime directly using a mathematical formula. -- Mike Duvos $ PGP 2.3a Public Key available $ mpd@netcom.com $ via Finger. $