At 12:22 AM 12/20/95, Jiri Baum wrote:
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Hello,
tcmay wrote: ...
Prime Factoring? Primes are easy to factor, of course. (Hint: Every prime has two factors.) ...
Can someone enlighten me as to what the two factors are?
With sensible definitions I've heard you either get one (just itself) or four (itself [p], both units [1,-1] and the co-whatsitsname [-p]).
You're looking too deeply. My point was in response to the very common error people make in talking about "factoring a large prime number." A prime is actually easy to factor: itself and 1, which is the point I was making. (One can quibble about whether 1 is a factor...I include it, though 1 is admittedly not considered a prime. But this is a quibble, I think.) --Tim May Views here are not the views of my Internet Service Provider or Government. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^756839 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."