On Jun 7, 2007, at 1:57 PM, Robert Bradshaw wrote:
> > On Jun 7, 2007, at 9:03 AM, David Harvey wrote: > >> On Jun 7, 2007, at 11:58 AM, Michel wrote: >> >>> And what should the default be? I would vote for probable primes >>> since looking for provable primes is unbearably slow. >> >> Agree. > > I agree too, though I think is_prime should remain provably correct. I disagree. I think is_prime should have the same option available, and the default should be probabilistic. The idea of these probabilistic tests is supposed to be that the probability of error is far less than the probability of error in your hardware (bounded uniformly, regardless of the input). Whether or not you are searching for the *next* prime or testing a *specific* value to be prime shouldn't affect your choice of algorithm. In the majority of applications the probabilistic test is the one a user would want, given the speed difference. david --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To post to this group, send email to sage-devel@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-devel URLs: http://sage.scipy.org/sage/ and http://modular.math.washington.edu/sage/ -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
