Stefan Behnel wrote: > Robert P. J. Day, 15.11.2009 15:44: >> On Sun, 15 Nov 2009, mrholtsr wrote: >> >>> I am absolutely new to python and barely past beginner in programming. >>> Also I am not a mathematician. Can some one give me pointers for >>> finding the 1000th. prime for a course I am taking over the internet >>> on Introduction to Computer Science and Programming. Thanks, Ray >> >> it's 7919. > > Now, all that's left to do is write a prime number generator (a random > number generator will do, too, but writing a good one isn't easy), run it > repeatedly in a loop, and check if the returned number is 7919. Once it > compares equal, you can print the result and you're done.
That reminds me of the only algorithm I really invented myself: debil sort. It goes like this: L = <list of comparable items> while not sorted(L): p = generate_random_permutation(len(L)) L = apply_permutation(L, p) print L Great algorithm. Actually works. And the saddest thing: somebody out there certainly has written something like that by accident... I've spotted sorting in O(n^3) (with non-deterministic exceptional termination conditions) already in the wild. Diez -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
