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Difference between revisions of "Pseudoprime"
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For example, a ''strong pseudoprime'' is a composite number that passes one iteration the [[Miller-Rabin pseudoprimality test]]. | For example, a ''strong pseudoprime'' is a composite number that passes one iteration the [[Miller-Rabin pseudoprimality test]]. | ||
− | Pseudoprimes are useful in many areas of computing where primes need to be generated quickly. One example of such a field is in the RSA encryption system, where each party needs to generate two large primes, possibly with hundreds of decimal digits. Actually testing candidates for primality is | + | Pseudoprimes are useful in many areas of computing where primes need to be generated quickly. One example of such a field is in the RSA encryption system, where each party needs to generate two large primes, possibly with hundreds of decimal digits. Actually testing candidates for primality is impracticably slow; however probabilistic primality tests can rapidly generate numbers which are "[[Probable prime|probably prime]]". The term "probably" is not to be taken lightly; a number which passes only 100 iterations of the Miller-Rabin test, for example, has a probability of only <math>{1/4}^{100}</math> of being composite, which is less than <math>10^{-60}</math>. |
==External links== | ==External links== | ||
*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoprime Wikipedia] | *[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoprime Wikipedia] | ||
[[Category:Math]] | [[Category:Math]] |
Latest revision as of 20:32, 25 July 2020
A pseudoprime is a composite number which passes some probabilistic primality tests.
Thus, when speaking about pseudoprimes, one has to specify the test performed.
For example, a strong pseudoprime is a composite number that passes one iteration the Miller-Rabin pseudoprimality test.
Pseudoprimes are useful in many areas of computing where primes need to be generated quickly. One example of such a field is in the RSA encryption system, where each party needs to generate two large primes, possibly with hundreds of decimal digits. Actually testing candidates for primality is impracticably slow; however probabilistic primality tests can rapidly generate numbers which are "probably prime". The term "probably" is not to be taken lightly; a number which passes only 100 iterations of the Miller-Rabin test, for example, has a probability of only [math]\displaystyle{ {1/4}^{100} }[/math] of being composite, which is less than [math]\displaystyle{ 10^{-60} }[/math].