We present an unconditional deterministic polynomial-time algorithm that determines whether an input number is prime or composite. 1

Dedicated to the memory of W. ‘Red ’ Alford, friend and colleague Abstract. “The problem of distinguishing prime numbers from composite numbers, and of resolving the latter into their prime factors is known to be one of the most important and useful in arithmetic. It has engaged the industry and wisdom of ancient and modern geometers to such an extent that it would be superfluous to discuss the problem at length. Nevertheless we must confess that all methods that have been proposed thus far are either restricted to very special cases or are so laborious and difficult that even for numbers that do not exceed the limits of tables constructed by estimable men, they try the patience of even the practiced calculator. And these methods do not apply at all to larger numbers... It frequently happens that the trained calculator will be sufficiently rewarded by reducing large numbers to their factors so that it will compensate for the time spent. Further, the dignity of the science itself seems to require that every possible means be explored for the solution of a problem so elegant and so celebrated... It is in the nature of the problem

Dedicated to the memory of W. ‘Red ’ Alford, friend and colleague Abstract. “The problem of distinguishing prime numbers from composite numbers, and of resolving the latter into their prime factors is known to be one of the most important and useful in arithmetic. It has engaged the industry and wisdom of ancient and modern geometers to such an extent that it would be superfluous to discuss the problem at length. Nevertheless we must confess that all methods that have been proposed thus far are either restricted to very special cases or are so laborious and difficult that even for numbers that do not exceed the limits of tables constructed by estimable men, they try the patience of even the practiced calculator. And these methods do not apply at all to larger numbers... It frequently happens that the trained calculator will be sufficiently rewarded by reducing large numbers to their factors so that it will compensate for the time spent. Further, the dignity of the science itself seems to require that every possible means be explored for the solution of a problem so elegant and so celebrated... It is in the nature of the problem

Let P denote the set of prime numbers, and let P(n) denote the largest prime factor of an integer n> 1. We show that, for every real number 32/17 < η < (4 + 3 √ 2)/4, there exists a constant c(η)> 1 such that for every integer a � = 0, the set � p ∈ P: p = P(q − a) for some prime q with p η < q < c(η) p η � has relative asymptotic density one in the set of all prime numbers. Moreover, in the range 2 ≤ η < (4+3 √ 2)/4, one can take c(η) = 1+ε for any fixed ε> 0. In particular, our results imply that for every real number 0.486 ≤ ϑ ≤ 0.531, the relation P(q − a) ≍ q ϑ holds for infinitely many primes q. We use this result to derive a lower bound on the number of distinct prime divisors of the value of the Carmichael function taken on a product of shifted primes. Finally, we study iterates of the map q ↦ → P(q − a) for a> 0, and show that for infinitely many primes q, this map can be iterated at least (log log q) 1+o(1) times before it terminates. 1.

We consider two standard pseudorandom number generators from number theory: the linear congruential generator and the power generator. For the former, we are given integers e, b, n (with e, n> 1) and a seed u0, and we compute the sequence

Abstract not found

Introduced by Kraitchik and Lehmer, an x-pseudosquare is a positive integer n ≡ 1 (mod 8) that is a quadratic residue for each odd prime p ≤ x, yet is not a square. We give a subexponential upper bound for the least x-pseudosquare that improves on a bound that is exponential in x due to Schinzel. We also obtain an equi-distribution result for pseudosquares. An x-pseudopower to base g is a positive integer which is not a power of g yet is so modulo p for all primes p ≤ x. It is conjectured by Bach, Lukes, Shallit, and Williams that the least such number is at most exp(agx/log x) for a suitable constant ag. A bound of exp(agxlog log x/log x) is proved conditionally on the Riemann Hypothesis for Dedekind zeta functions, thus improving on a recent conditional exponential bound of Konyagin and the present authors. We also give a GRH-conditional equidistribution result for pseudopowers that is analogous to our unconditional result for pseudosquares.