more number theory more number theory
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What estimates exist for the density of large Carmichael numbers, say 1000 bits long?
I'm not sure off hand - maybe Ray can try to check the source of his formula. Carmichael numbers must be square free and the product of at least three primes... I seem to remember a formula for the distribution of square free integers, but can't quite remember it...
test? Are other probability tests like Miller-Rabin any more provably likely to detect these?
Well Phil, you are in luck! Miller-Rabin isn't fooled by Carmichael numbers. There still is a chance for failure, but it doesn't depend on the input (i.e. there are no bad inputs for Miller-Rabin like there are for pseudoprime testing). Failure depends on how many iterations you perform (n iterations = 2^-n chance of failure) and the values of the base you choose. For example, in Miller-Rabin, the Carmichael number 561 is exposed to be composite by choosing a base of 7. I'm familiar with two other primality testing algorithms (I'm no number theory wiz so there are probably more): Lucas' and Lehmer's. Well, Lehmer's method is a modification of Lucas' method. They both are slow, but have the advantage of being true. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.3a iQCVAgUBLaoM/IOA7OpLWtYzAQEXPQQAy1110rgCUzLtKoaTsWvGCujq3fWD7Ppz A+/2b4NmR9+YmqHl63kb9zKU1/KOfDVXsmE7o0beyRQzSNGzj2I5yEUrnz0IzBLt cy4ooiE3ED/jBBc01MBYhm5v3s9dIMJNXbsw7mBSBasqzEvHHpjH8dnGZA8QXhYT fKTlU7rKa0o= =XgrZ -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
Failure depends on how many iterations you perform (n iterations = 2^-n chance of failure) and the values of the base you choose.
As I pointed out before, this probability is not correct. The trials are not independent, so you cannot just multiply them together.
I'm familiar with two other primality testing algorithms [...]: Lucas' and Lehmer's.
For some good information on primality testing, see A Course in Computational Algebraic Number Theory by Henri Cohen Chapter 9 is titled "Modern Primality Tests". I give you fair warning that you will not be able to understand this without significant effort. The Pocklington-Lehmer primality test is in Chapter 8 "Factoring in the Dark Ages". There's a very interesting result stated here, "There exists a probabilistic polynomial time algorithm which can prove or disprove that a given number N is prime". The result is by Adleman and Huang. (Yes, _that_ Adleman.) And for purposes of cultural literacy, the names are the Jacobi sum test, the elliptic curve tests, Goldwasser-Kilian, and Atkin (a development on G-K). Eric
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