bs@faron.UUCP (Robert D. Silverman) (05/23/86)
While I continue the process of factoring numbers on the current 'WANTED' lists I encountered a very rare and unusual event: A very large number which factored as the product of two VERY nearly equal primes. The factorization was that of a 77 digit cofactor of 6^106 + 1. This number has the trivial algebraic factor 37, and a small primitive factor 26713. The remain cofactor, however, factors as: 175436926004647658810244613736479118917 * 175787157418305877173455355755546870641 A very pretty result. It not only is unusual for a number this size to factor into two primes of equal length but also it is even more unusual that the first 3 digits are the same. Note that this is not an artificially constructed RSA key. Bob Silverman P.S. For those interested the current numbers left on the 'MOST WANTED' list are: (Cxx indicates a composite number of xx digits) 512 1. 2 + 1 = 2424833.C148 128 2. 5 + 1 = 2.257.C87 128 3. 7 + 1 = 2.257.769.197231873.C95 4. finished 5. finished 6. finished 94 7. 10 + 1 = 101.45121.C88 97 8. 10 - 1 = 3.3.12004721.C89 97 9. 10 + 1 = 11.C96 10. finished Is anyone out there bold enough to try these????? We are waiting for John Selfridge to draw up a new list.