Computational Number Theory
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Primality Test
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Level 1: Primality Test
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Running Time
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Level 2: measuring running time
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Computer Memory (space)
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Binary Memory Exploration
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Algorithmic Efficiency
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Level 3: Challenge
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Sieve of Eratosthenes
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Level 4: Sieve of Eratosthenes
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Primality Test with Sieve
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Level 5: Trial division using sieve
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The Prime Number Theorem
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Prime Gaps
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Time Space Tradeoff
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Summary (what's next?)
Algorithmic Efficiency How can we improve the speed of a (deterministic) primality test?
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- I have a report now that they are sending a new rover to Mars,
- and we are responsible for doing one thing –
- which is programming the algorithm inside the rover
- which checks if numbers are prime.
- Because let's say our rover is communicating using RSA.
- It needs an algorithm inside that can do a primality test.
- Now, when you a design a rover,
- or anything to go into space, you have to
- be very efficient in *every* way.
- So the components used have to be very light,
- the amount of power every subsystem uses has to be minimal.
- You have to be saving energy and mass at
- every point in the design process.
- So, we have our work cut out for us
- because we have to be able to deal with numbers
- up to this size...
- ... and it has to do it very fast.
- So if we give it a very small input, let's say just 90 –
- it should be able to calculate that almost as fast
- as this entire number.
- So as the input grows, we don't want to see
- any of this noticeable slow-down.
- Now, I want to analyze the user questions,
- or the ideas users had, which were really good.
- From a mathematical standpoint.
- We are checking if *n* is *prime* or *composite*.
- So given some number *n*, think of
- the space of all possible *n*s,
- and say if *n* is 100, then this space
- is 2 to 100.
- And what our algorithm is doing,
- is it's searching this space.
- Okay, so you can think of algorithms as searching a space,
- and at each point it's asking – think of it as a step –
- – a primitive step – it's asking a question.
- And it's actually a composite test, the question...
- so say we're at number *a*, we would say in the
- trial division method is *n* divided by *a*?,
- and we just try this, we drop *a* here and
- we try if *n* divides *a* and we see
- if the remainder is zero, which means *a* is a divisor of *n*
- then we can say,
- "Ah! We are 100% sure it's composite."
- Otherwise, at each step, we aren't quite sure –
- it might be prime, but we're not sure –
- so we continue searching until we hit the end.
- And remember our wall in this case was at the square root of *n*.
- The worst case situation occurs when *n*'s prime,
- we search all the way to the square root of *n*
- and then we can say,
- "Ah! It is prime! And we are 100% sure."
- So in the case where *n* is even a multiple of two primes,
- so 7
- so 7 • 7
- so 7 • 7 = 49
- If we throw 49 into our algorithm,
- the worst case occurs, we go all the way until
- the square root of *n*.
- So the first set of questions,
- from, for example, TheFourthDimension asks:
- *"Once we rule out 2 as not divisible, then*
- *all multiples of 2 could be ruled out.*
- *The same for 3*
- *The same for 3, 4*
- *The same for 3, 4, 5*
- *The same for 3, 4, 5, etc.*
- So that's a really great point –
- our old algorithm was stepping along one at a time,
- but we could be using patterns we know about composite numbers
- such as, we know, for sure, that if a number's divisible by 2,
- then it's composite –
- if it's greater than 2, so 2's prime,
- but then we can say,
- 4 is composite...
- Oh, I missed 5 here, sorry about that.
- 4
- 4, 6
- 4, 6, 8
- 4, 6, 8, 10 ...
- And instead, we can take a step like this:
- 3
- 3, 5
- 3, 5, 7
- 3, 5, 7, 9 ...
- So, one category of questions –
- they all try to reduce this space,
- so if we eliminate all the even numbers,
- now the check space, instead of being up to the square root of *n*,
- is the square root of *n* divided by 2.
- And, we can find other patterns in composite numbers
- to try to make this even smaller.
- The other type of question concerns the case
- where we find a composite witness,
- that is we find an *a* that allows us to say we know *n* is composite.
- lola said,
- *"Wouldn't leaving the loop as soon we find*
- *primeCheck == false cut down on some of the time?"*
- And yes, that's totally correct, and
- it's something we want to do.
- As soon as we are searching along using some step,
- defined by whatever pattern you're using,
- we find a composite witness,
- that means it passes our test and we say 100% composite,
- we should halt early.
- We stop and say, "Uh, we're done."
- We won't continue searching.
- And, this halting early is great, except
- it doesn't help us in the worst case,
- which is: if *n* is prime,
- then the early halting won't help us.
- And now we can visualize how these improvements
- allow us to reduce the space, thus preventing
- as many checks happening inside the computer
- (which, depending on our computer)
- will reduce the amount of *time* it takes.
- So now I can show you the visualization I've set up below,
- which allows us to compare two algorithms based on
- how many steps occur during their execution.
- On the left is Algorithm A, which is trial division,
- which checks from 2 to the square root of *n*.
- And on the right is Algorithm B, which is,
- let's just say our "improved algorithm,"
- and in this case, I've applied the check if it's divisible by 2,
- so we only do half as many steps,
- and I also terminate early in this Algorithm B.
- So it's not perfect, I've just applied a few user modifications,
- so we can see what happens, and now I'm gonna
- just play with this to show you it.
- Here we can see, as I scroll, we see Algorithm A.
- We have the output, whether it's composite or prime,
- and at the bottom, you'll see the number of steps.
- So the first thing to notice is on the right-hand side,
- every other number takes only one step,
- and we know why that is, because if it's an even number,
- such as this, it will quit.
- So our old algorithm took 314 steps,
- and our new algorithm only took 1 step
- because it checked if it was divisible by 2,
- so that seems like a really nice optimization.
- However, as we build our input, you'll notice
- the steps increase and the bar grows
- and turns red once we approach the region
- where we're going to crash.
- So this red line up here is **STEP LIMIT** –
- if your bar hits there, we fail,
- which means our rover would break,
- and in this case, the browser will actually crash,
- so I'll try to get close to it.
- So I'm close to it now, and it's running very slow,
- I can feel that my browser is just about to crash
- and give me the circle of death.
- But notice our improved algorithm took only 2 steps in that case,
- but remember the worst case.
- So I have a few large prime numbers saved here for example.
- We have to be able to handle any case,
- we don't know what we're throwing at our algorithm.
- So if I throw a large prime at it, look what happens:
- Algorithm B, as we know, is taking
- half as many steps in the worst case,
- but it's still taking many steps here.
- Because it's the worst case, right?
- So, we're getting close to crashing here,
- and this is not a very long prime.
- We're still way under 15 digits.
- And when I put this 12 digit prime into our algorithm
- let's see what happens:
- It's lagging; maybe it's going to crash...
- look what happened:
- both algorithms went *way* overboard,
- so it didn't work.
- Our improved algorithm is not good enough yet.
- But now we have an understanding of
- what we're trying to improve,
- which is "number of steps in the worst case."
- And we also have this cool tool, which allows us to
- visualize how fast it's growing –
- how fast the number of steps grows as our input grows.
- And below, I'll explain how I set this up,
- so you can set up your algorithm
- and compare it with the base case,
- and see how much better you can do.
Be specific, and indicate a time in the video:
At 5:31, how is the moon large enough to block the sun? Isn't the sun way larger?
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