just an idea I came up with today, I don`t suggest it is a fast factoring method, but it would be interesting to know if it is faster than say trial division: Calcuate a composite number H such that H has a large number of prime factors (hundreds). now use the euclidean algorithm to try to find a gcd of X (the number being factored) and H, if there is none try a new H, if there is you have found a factor. It is hardly elegant but I would nevertheless be interested to see if it is apreciably faster than other kludge methods like trial division. Datacomms Technologies web authoring and data security Paul Bradley, Paul@fatmans.demon.co.uk Paul@crypto.uk.eu.org, Paul@cryptography.uk.eu.org Http://www.cryptography.home.ml.org/ Email for PGP public key, ID: 5BBFAEB1 "Don`t forget to mount a scratch monkey"