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A comment on Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print. Parent comment

Re:Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into ... by lupire on Tuesday October 04, 2022 @04:06PM (#33085971)
There is quite a lot of money waiting for you if you ever figure out how to factor composites quickly. (Any old bum can factor primes quickly.)
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Re:Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into ... by linschn on Tuesday October 04, 2022 @05:48PM (#33087501)
We had a very specific use case, where the input was a known composite, and some properties of the factors were known.

Also, while no fast algorithms are known (and may never be depending on if p=np) some are faster than others depending on the properties of your inputs, and choosing the right one can mean saving a lot of time and effort.

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