At 11:10 AM 2/21/96, lmccarth@cs.umass.edu wrote:
Clay writes:
Given that N is the length of the message in bits. The number of possible combinations of bits is 2^N. For any message length N > 1, 2^N < N^256.
Uh, nope. 2^N grows asymptotically faster than N^256. Actually, for any constants A and B, A^N grows asymptotically faster than N^B. For A=2, B=256, the crossover happens somewhere before N=4096. 2^4096 = 2^(16*256) > 2^(12*256) = (2^12)^256 = (4096)^256
If the IPG people are using N=5600 (weird choice) then certainly 2^5600 > 5600^256, for what little that's worth.
(Ah, my computer science B.S. pays off ;)
-Lewis "You're always disappointed, nothing seems to keep you high -- drive your bargains, push your papers, win your medals, fuck your strangers; don't it leave you on the empty side ?" (Joni Mitchell, 1972)
Oops. Thanks for pointing this out. I should probably just shut up about this, but snake-oil salesmen really get under my skin. Of course, being wrong hasn't kept me from opening my mouth in the past so ... Clay --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clay Olbon II | olbon@dynetics.com Systems Engineer | ph: (810) 589-9930 fax 9934 Dynetics, Inc., Ste 302 | http://www.msen.com/~olbon/olbon.html 550 Stephenson Hwy | PGP262 public key: finger olbon@mgr.dynetics.com Troy, MI 48083-1109 | pgp print: B97397AD50233C77523FD058BD1BB7C0 "To escape the evil curse, you must quote a bible verse; thou shalt not ... Doooh" - Homer (Simpson, not the other one) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------